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Commentary

Asia-Pacific Pan-Regional Cable, APG, Finally Ready for Service

1/5/2017

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NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), the ICT solutions and international communications business within the NTT Group, announced today that it has launched the Asia Pacific Gateway (APG), a high-bandwidth optical submarine cable network connecting regions and countries in the Asia. NTT Com has implemented the new service in partnership with major telecommunication carriers in each country: China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, KT, Starhub, LG Uplus, China Mobile, Viettel Corporation, Vietnam Telecom International, FP Telecom, Global Transit, and Facebook.

​Figure 4 - APG Cable Map
Picture
Source: NTT Communications

The APG will increase data transmission capacity in the Asian region, improve connectivity between various regions and countries and improve redundancy by means of diverse routing.

With a total length of 10,400 km, the APG network leverages 100 Gbit/s optical transmission capabilities and digital coherent technology to deliver a capacity of more than 54 Tbit/s, the highest of any network in Asia.

The cable routing avoids areas prone to earthquakes and typhoons, and has connectivity points in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. See Figure 4 above for more information.

NTT Com has established two diverse landing points, one in the East and the other in the West of Japan for the APG and Pacific Crossing-1 (PC-1) submarine cable which connects between Japan and the U.S. having diverse route such as north and south routes. The company has also implemented diverse landing points in Hong Kong and Singapore for the APG and for the Asia Submarine-Cable Express (ASE), which was launched in August 2012 by NTT, PLDT (Philippines), Telekom Malaysia, and Starhub (Singapore).

​Figure 5 - ASE & PC-1 Cable Map
Picture
Source: NTT Communications

NTT Com thereby operates totally diverse cable routes between the US West Coast and key economic hubs in Asia regions, offering even greater reliability and redundancy in its global network.

Another APG Consortium member, Korea Telecom (KT) said that the cable, which is capable of delivering data at a staggering speed of 60 Tbit/s (sic), will be used for a trial service of the fifth-generation (5G) mobile network. Oh Seong-mok, vice president of KT's network business division, said in the statement that APG, together with the transpacific New Cross Pacific (NCP) Cable System (China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, KT, China Mobile, Microsoft, Softbank Telecom) which is expected to be ready for service at the end of 2017, will allow KT to transmit high-definition broadcasts and virtual reality content across the world.

Figure 6 - NCP Cable Map
Picture
​Source: http://technews.tw/

Adapted from: NTT Communications & Korea Telecom Press Releases

ANALYSIS: It has taken more than five years to bring the APG submarine cable system into operation. Even by consortium cable standards, this is an inordinately long time.

The problems faced by the APG consortium are reflected in a number of curious aspects. First, this cable project, for a long time, went by different names: APG, APCN-3, and NAC, suggesting that there were originally a number of initiatives which were eventually amalgamated into one cable project.

Second, although the supply contract with Japanese system supplier, NEC, was awarded in January 2011, with NTT Communications leading the consortium, both NTT-C and Korea Telecom only signed the Construction & Maintenance Agreement for this project in December 2011.

Third, despite NTT-C's involvement in a similar pan-regional Asia Pacific cable system, "ASE", NTT decided to invest in and lead the APG consortium as well.

NTT's divided attention between these two projects may be at the heart of the reason why it has taken so long to complete APG. Moreover, in addition to NTT-C with its own agenda, the APG Consortium consists of all three Chinese operators, the Taiwanese incumbent, a renegade trading arm of the notoriously difficult Malaysian incumbent, three inexperienced Vietnamese companies, and a global content provider. The potential for disagreement and politicking among the parties could not be greater!

​Unfortunately, although APG uses 100 Gbit/s technology, the long gestation period for this cable means that it is highly likely that the system design suffers from some technical obsolescence when compared with more recent systems using the latest in coherent technology, making APG a "lame-duck" system.
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    Julian Rawle, Author

    Thought leadership articles and commentary on developments related to the subsea fibre optic cable industry can be found here.

    MarineTraffic AIS Ship Data & Live Map Positions

    INDUSTRY PULSE: Retelit Trades AAE-1 Capacity for Asian Services… SEAIOCMA Extends Cable Maintenance Contract with Global Marine… Djibouti Africa Regional Express (DARE) Submarine Cable System Contract in Force... Tui-Samoa Submarine Cable System Final Splice Completed... Xtera Initiates Legal Action against Nokia and NEC for Alleged Patent Infringement... Basslink Subsea Cable Outage Caused By Exceeding Design Limit: Experts... ANTONIO MEUCCI arrived at port CATANIA... ASEAN EXPLORER departed from port SEMBAWANG... ASEAN RESTORER departed from port SEMBAWANG... BOLD MAVERICK departed from port SINGAPORE... CABLE INNOVATOR departed from port VICTORIA... CABLE RETRIEVER departed from port SUBIC BAY ... DECISIVE arrived at port LAS PALMAS... DEPENDABLE departed from port CAPE TOWN... DURABLE arrived at port JINGJIANG... CS ETISALAT departed from port HAMRIYA... FJORDKABEL arrived at port HARSTAD... FU AN arrived at port MINHANG... FU HAI departed from port KITAKYUSHU... GLOBAL SENTINEL departed from port HONOLULU, HI... ILE DAIX departed from port PALMONES... ILE DE BATZ arrived at port CALAIS... ILE DE BREHAT departed from port RIO DE JANEIRO... ILE DE RE departed from port SUVA... ILE DE SEIN departed from port NORFOLK, VA... IT INTREPID departed from port CAPE CANAVERAL, FL... KDDI OCEAN LINK departed from port YOKOHAMA... KDDI PACIFIC LINK arrived at port MOJI... KIZUNA arrived at port NAHA... LEON THEVENIN departed from port CAPE TOWN... CS LIMIN VENTURE departed from port BATU AMPAR... LODBROG departed from port KEELUNG... MAERSK RESPONDER departed from port PASIR GUDANG... MARAM departed from port FREE PORT... NIWA arrived at port SALALAH... NORDKABEL arrived at port BOKN... PACIFIC GUARDIAN arrived at port WILLEMSTAD... PETER FABER arrived at port MINDELO... PIERRE DE FERMAT arrived at port HOEK VAN HOLLAND... RAYMOND CROZE departed from port CATANIA... CS RECORDER arrived at port BLYTH... RELIANCE arrived at port NOUMEA... RENE DESCARTES departed from port LUANDA... RESOLUTE arrived at port KEELUNG... RESPONDER departed from port AUCKLAND... SEGERO departed from port SHANTOU... SOVEREIGN arrived at port PORTLAND, UK... SUBARU departed from port NAGASAKI... TELIRI departed from port CAPE TOWN... TENEO arrived at port WILLEMSTAD... UMM AL ANBER departed from port HAMRIYA... VEGA departed from port BATANGAS BAY... WAVE SENTINEL arrived at port WILLEMSTAD...
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    Julian Rawle participated in the Submarine Networks World Conference 8-10 September 2015 in Singapore

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