Australia's fourth biggest telecommunications company Vocus is currently upgrading core domestic infrastructure to support what it says is the early customer demand for the Australia Singapore Cable, as the project draws closer to being ready for service.
Vocus says the planned upgrade is designed to deliver an additional 8T of capacity across the country, predominantly between Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
“We’re expecting immediate network activity when the ASC is ready for service,” says Vocus Head of International Luke Mackinnon, “so this upgrade is critical to ensuring we keep ahead of demand and continue to provide the most advanced and intelligent network for our customers.
“The ASC project includes two new POPs in Singapore, replacing the existing POP. It will also add diversity and multiple hand off options, in Equinix SG1/SG3 and STT/Globalswitch.
{loadposition peter}“An entirely new POP for Christmas Island is a first for Vocus and will deliver the island’s first ever terrestrial connection providing massive capacity uplift for the community.”
Mackinnon says the ASC team is currently attending the PTC Conference in Hawaii, meeting customers and securing further orders in advance of RFS.
According to Mackinnon, a number of agreements are already in place with key customers.
Last month Mackinnon said the $170 million Australia Singapore Cable network will open the door for a new strategic data route — the Great Southern Route — connecting South East Asia to North America via Australia, when it opens for business in July 2018.
MacKinnon said the Great Southern Route is a safer trans-Pacific route which will be attractive to many organisations because it avoids the two regions that give traffic planners headaches.
“The area around Japan has a huge amount of geological activity.
“The country is on the notorious ring-of-fire and is the world's most seismically challenged nation. There are active volcanoes, constant earthquakes and tsunamis, all of which can disrupt submarine cables.
“At the same time, the GSR bypasses the geopolitical risks of the North-West Pacific region. North Korea recently threatened the US territory of Guam, which is a key point on many fibre routes across the North Pacific Ocean. There are also many trouble spots in the South China Sea where territory is disputed”.