Echo Cable System Overview

Edge Cable Holdings USA, LLC , a subsidiary of Facebook, and GU Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Google, have jointly applied to the FCC for a license to land and operate the Echo Cable System, a private fiber-optic submarine cable system connecting the United States, Singapore, and Indonesia.

According to the application document, key features of the Echo Cable System are sumarized belows.

System Design

The Echo Cable System consists of four segments:

• Main Trunk connecting Eureka, California with Singapore. It has 12 fiber pairs, each having a design capacity of 12 Tb/s using current technology, and a length of 16,206 kilometers.
• Piti Branch connecting Piti, Guam with a branching unit on the Main Trunk. It has 12 fiber pairs, each having a design capacity of 12 Tb/s using current technology, and a length of 372 kilometers.
• Agat Branch connecting Agat, Guam with a branching unit on the Main Trunk. It has 12 fiber pairs, each having a design capacity of 12 Tb/s using current technology, and a length of 372 kilometers.
• Indonesia Branch connecting Tanjung, Pakis, Indonesia with a branching unit on the Main Trunk. It has four fiber pairs, each having a design capacity of 12 Tb/s using current technology, and a length of 234 kilometers.

Cable Ownership

Basically, Facebook and Google share 50%:50% of voting and participation interests of wet infrastructure and common infrastructure in the Main Trunk and branches of the Echo Cable System.

Facebook owns 8 of 12 fiber pairs landing at Piti, while Google owning 8 of 12 fiber pairs landing at Agat.

Landing Stations

The Echo Cable System lands at the following cable landing stations:

• Eureka Cable Landing Station, a new cable landing station in Arcata California, to be built and owned by EdgeConnex Arcata Holdings, LLC (“EdgeConneX”)
• Agat Cable Landing Station, an exsiting cable landing station in Guam, owned by Tata Communications.
• Tata Piti Cable Landing Station, an exsiting cable landing station in Guam, owned by Tata Communications
• Tanjung Pakis Cable Landing Station, a new cable landing station in Indonesia, to be built and owned by XL Axiata.
• Changi Cable Landing Station, an existing cable landing station in Singapore, owned by Telstra.

Landing Parties and Landing Services

Facebook is the landing party for three landings in the United States.

Google through its subsidiary Google Singapore Pte Ltd acts as the landing party for Echo's Singapore landing. This is the first project in which Google acts as a landing party in Singapore.

XL Axiata offers landing services and act as the landing party in Indonesia. Title of the Indonesia Branch is transferred to XL Axiata at system acceptance, but Facebook and Google receiving a reciprocal right of use for the branch.

Supplier

The Echo Cable System is supplied by NEC.