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Commentary

Singtel Consortium Appoints ASN to Build New Subsea Cable

8/3/2017

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A SINGTEL consortium has appointed (Nokia) Alcatel Submarine Networks to build a new international subsea cable system which will strengthen links between Australia and South-east Asia, providing faster connection speed and enhanced reliability.

​Figure 5 – Indigo West Cable Map
Picture
Source: SubPartners

Aside from SingTel, the other members in the consortium are AARNet, Google, Indosat Ooredoo, SubPartners and Telstra.

When completed, the Indigo cable system will span approximately 9,000km and connect Singapore and Perth, and onwards to Sydney. Landing in existing facilities in Singapore, Australia and Indonesia, the system will also allow connections between Singapore and Jakarta.

Figure 6 – Indigo Central Cable Map
Picture
Source: SubPartners

The system will use a two-fibre pair "open cable" design with spectrum-sharing technology. This allows consortium members to share ownership of spectrum within the cable, giving them the ability to independently take advantage of technology advancements and future upgrades as required.

Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg

ANALYSIS: With the benefit of hindsight, it now seems rather obvious that the solution to building a replacement for the old SEA-ME-WE-3 segment between Singapore and Perth, Australia should be based on a consortium, spreading the risk over a number of entities. However, for nearly twenty years, the industry has been trying to build privately on this route while SingTel (Optus) and Telstra milked the SEA-ME-WE-3 link for as long as they could.

Indigo’s broad coalition of Singaporean, Australian, and Indonesian incumbents, together with a global content provider, a private entrepreneur, and an academic network provider is likely to overcome many of the issues, most notably, funding and permitting, faced by private developers on this route.

Trident Submarine Cable Company is now publicly stating that they have re-focused on re-selling capacity around Indonesia and Singapore and have abandoned plans to build between Perth and Singapore.

Australian 2nd Tier network operator, Vocus, took on the “ASC” (Australia-Singapore Cable) with its acquisition of NextGen but Vocus is now itself the subject of a takeover by KKR, making progress on the ASC cable project look even more remote.

It is also interesting to note that ASN funded the Marine Survey for ASC and a turnkey supply contract was supposedly put into force in December 2016. ASN may be amenable to letting KKR off the hook if they can use the Marine Survey for Indigo.

Apart from the inclusion of an Indonesian partner to handle permitting issues in Indonesian waters, the other aspect of this announcement which brings Indigo to the forefront and the most likely solution for a cable on this route is the adoption of spectrum-sharing technology on a relatively conservative 2-fiber cable design. Spectrum-sharing creates “virtual fibers” for each partner which can be upgraded in isolation from each other according to each partner’s requirements. This will be the first time that the spectrum-sharing model has been implemented in the submarine cable industry.

​This approach has been touted by Bevan Slattery, CEO of SubPartners. Slattery has been trying to build on this route for a number of years. He initiated the “APX-West” project in January 2013 and has worked gradually to bring in other partners. When he announced that SingTel and Telstra had joined in the project, Pioneer Consulting was skeptical that a 3-way partnership would work. However, the inclusion of Google and Ooredoo Indosat, along with AARNet, makes the composition of the consortium look far more workable.
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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...
    Picture
    Julian Rawle participated in the Submarine Networks World Conference 8-10 September 2015 in Singapore

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