Construction begins on Japan-Guam-Australia cable

A consortium led by RTI Connectivity has commenced construction of a new subsea cable linking Japan, Australia and the US territory of Guam.

The Japan-Guam-Australia Cable System (JGA) is being built by a consortium consisting of RTI Connectivity, Australia’s Academic and Research Network (AARNet) and Google. It is being supplied by Alcatel Submarine Networks and NEC.

The 9,500km subsea cable system will have a design capacity of over 36Tbps. It is expected to be ready for service in the fourth quarter of next year.

At Guam, the JGA will interconnect to the SEA-US cable, which is operated by a consortium that includes RTI Connectivity, as well as the upcoming HK-G Hong Kong-Guam.

The JGA will contribute to the expansion of communications networks from Japan and Australia to Asia and the US and expand onboard connectivity options in Guam.

The cable is being built in two sections also linking in Guam, with JGA South being funded by AARNet, Google and RTI Connectivity, while JGA North will be wholly-owned by RTI Connectivity.

“Hyperscale cloud providers and enterprise companies are fuelling exponential data-growth between Asia, Australia, and the United States. These customers require alternative paths, enhanced quality of service, and cost-effective bandwidth solutions,” RTI Connectivity CEO Russ Matulich said.

“By adding JGA to our existing cable investments, RTI is well positioned to serve these massive data-growth needs. JGA’s unique design will also improve latency between Tokyo-Sydney, while greatly reducing provisioning timeframes.”