NEC Corp. (TSE: 6701) says it has received a contract from Okinawa Cellular Telephone Co. to design, engineer, supply, install, test, and implement an optical submarine cable system between Okinawa Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan. NEC expects the submarine network will begin operation in April 2020.
The company notes that there is already a submarine cable linking the two prefectures. However, this submarine system, which will land in Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture, and Hioki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, will take a different route and therefore provide a backup alternative. The undersea cable will extend approximately 760 km and be installed at a maximum depth of approximately 1200 m. It will offer a maximum design transmission capacity of 80 Tbps. NEC expects the system will help serve bandwidth needs among the Okinawa, Kyushu, and Honshu regions of Japan, which is expected to grow due to the construction of data centers in Okinawa and the launch of 5G services.
NEC will leverage its wide range of experience in submarine cable technology and deployment, which includes the production of optical transmission terminal stations, optical submarine repeaters, optical submarine cables, ocean surveys and route designs, installation of equipment and cable installation, and training and delivery testing (see, for example, "Consortium chooses NEC for Bay to Bay Express Cable System"). NEC subsidiary OCC Corp. is responsible for the manufacture of the submarine cable.
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