The system is on schedule for completion by mid-2018, a statement from Hawaiki Submarine Cable and TE SubCom said.
The cable system will provide 44Tbps of capacity via TE SubCom’s C100U+ Submarine Line Terminating Equipment. It will also allow optional connectivity to islands along the route using TE SubCom’s optical add/drop multiplexing nodes.
The ships will set sail next month, with the CS Global Sentinel having been fully loaded and CS Responder near completion.
|
|
TE Connectivity SubCom’s CS Global Sentinel.
It will be the highest cross-sectional capacity link between the US and Australia and New Zealand.
Some facts about the cable:
- It has enough fibre to run more than twice around the equator.
- The cable can transmit 44Tbps, or 80,000 times the averagesatellite link.
- At that speed, you could download more than 8500 high definition DVDs per second.
- You could stream 1.7 million 4K TV streams simultaneously.
- The cable will deliver more than 10x the current global consumption of Australia and New Zealand combined.
- The core of the fibre, the glass in which the signal is transmitted, is ¼ the diameter of a hair.
Horizontal directional drilling for the cable landing in Pacific City, Oregon and Sydney had been completed, the statement said.
"All installation permits for Australia, New Zealand and Oregon are already in hand, and continue to progress as expected in Hawaii.
"In Sydney, the construction of the land duct route is complete, the installation of the terminal equipment has started and the pulling of the land cable is scheduled to begin shortly.
"In New Zealand, the construction of the land duct route is complete and the construction of a new cable station is underway."
“The coming months will see the realisation of our vision for Hawaiki, a system that will impact the capabilities and economies of hundreds of Pacific communities,” said Remi Galasso, chief executive of Hawaiki.
The Hawaiki Cable System map.
“Considering the scope of the project, the progress to date has been staggering. It is a thrill to reach the installation phase and know that we will soon be ready to light the system and deliver much needed capacity to the region.”
Debra Brask, vice-president, project and programme management, TE SubCom, said: “With the cable load process concluding on schedule, we will soon launch the installation phase of the project using two of the industry’s most technologically-advanced cable laying vessels.
“Hawaiki is certainly a large and multi-faceted system, but we are confident in our trans-Pacific expertise and look forward to an efficient deployment.”
The carrier-neutral cable system has been co-developed by New Zealand-based entrepreneurs Sir Eion Edgar, Malcolm Dick and Galasso.
Graphic and photos: courtesy Hawaiki Submarine Cable
