The Bay to Bay Express Cable System ("BtoBE") is a 15,400 km trans-pacific optical fiber submarine cable system connecting Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the US.

Landing Stations:

• Grover Beach, California;
• Changi, Singapore;
• Chung Hom Kok, Hong Kong SAR; and
• Cherating, Malaysia.

Segments:

• Segment A: Grover Beach-BU1 off Hong Kong. It will have a total length of 12,182 kilometers and consist of six fiber
• pairs.
• Segment B: BU1-Changi, Singapore. It will have a total length of 2,236 kilometers and consist of five fiber pairs.
• Segment C: BU1-Chung Hom Kok, Hong Kong. It will have a total length of 612 kilometers and consist of nine fiber pairs.
• Segment D: BU2-Cherating, Malaysia. It will have a total length of 363 kilometers and consist of four fiber pairs.

Design Capacity

• California - Hong Kong：90 waves x 200 Gbps (or equivalent) per fiber pair.
• California - Singapore:  80 waves x 200 Gbps (or equivalent) per fiber pair.
• California - Malaysia: 80 waves x 200 Gbps (or equivalent) per fiber pair.

The BtoBE consortium composes of China Mobile International, Facebook ( by its wholly-owned, direct subsidiary Edge USA) and Amazon (by its wholly-owned, indirect subsidiary Vadata). The BtoBE cable system is supplied by NEC and is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2020.

In light of U.S. Government policy with respect to direct connections between the United States and Hong Kong, the BtoBE consortium withdrew the application for cable landing license on September 10, 2020. 

The Bay to Bay Express (“BtoBE”) cable system has been reconfigured as the CAP-1 cable system, connecting the United States and the Philippines.

Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) is submarine cable system initially designed to connect Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines and the US.

PLCN aimed to offer the first direct submarine cable connectivity between Hong Kong and Los Angeles, the US, spanning approxiamately 13000 km, with the shortest RTD between Hong Kong and Los Angeles. 

PLCN is the first and currently the only submarine cable system in the world to deploy with C+L band optical technology.  C+L band technology had been technically feasible when PLCN project was luanched in the end of 2015. The deployment of C+L band almost doubles the per fiber pair capacity and the system capacity in PLCN. Later in 2018, the Space Division Multiplexing (SDM) technology was available and more popularily selected as an alternative solution to increase system capacity while decreasing cost per bit.

The PLCN cable system consists of 6 fiber pairs, with 240 channels of 100Gbps in a single fiber pair (100G * 240 WL), 24 Tbps per fiber pair and 144Tbps for the whole system.

The PLCN cable system is supplied by SubCom, with its industry-leading and innovative C+L band solutions.

The PLCN cable system is jointly built and owned by Google, Meta (formerly Facebook) and PLDC (Pacific Light Data Communication). PLDC is a start-up company incorporated in Hong Kong in 2015 and was acquired by Dr.Peng Telecom & Media Group Co.,Ltd (Dr. Peng Group) in late 2017. PLDC initiated the PLCN project in 2015 and teamed up with Google and Facebook for the joint build of PLCN in 2016.

Google owns one fiber pair in PLCN, connecting Hong Kong and the US with a branch to Toucheng, Taiwan on this fiber pair. Google acts as the landing party in the US and Taiwan. In the US, Google lands the PLCN cable at Equinix LA4 data center where houses the PFE and SLTEs of the whole PLCN cable system in the US territory.

Meta (Facebook) owns one fiber pair in PLCN, connecting Hong Kong and the US with two branches to the Philippines on this fiber pair, landing at Baler, Aurora and San Fernando, La Union respectively. The  Baler and San Fernando cable landing stations are owned by the Philippine state-owned firm Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

PLDC owns four out of the six fiber pairs in PLCN, acts as the landing party in Hong Kong. PLDC lands the cable at Deep Water Bay CLS in Hong Kong and installs their SLTEs at TMH, Telecom House data center in downtown, Wanchai, Hong Kong.

Designed with Open Cable structure, each of Google, Meta and PLDC can operate its own PLCN fiber pair(s) independently. 

In June 2020, based on national security concerns, the US Team Telecom recommended the FCC partially deny the PLCN cable landing license application, to the extent it seeks a direct connection between the United States and Hong Kong, and with respect to PLCN's Chinese owners, and partially grant the license application for PLCN’s U.S. owners and for PLCN’s connections between the United States, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

In August 2020, PLCN joint builders withdrew the application for cable landing license in the US, which was initially filed on April 21, 2017. After the withdrawal, PLCN joint builders (Google and Facebook) refiled the FCC a new application for cable landing license for PLCN's connections from the US to Taiwan and the Philippines, without connections to Hong Kong, without ownership and control by Chinese entity.

In January, 2022, the FCC finally granted Google and Meta Submarine Cable Landing Licenses, approving commercial operation for PLCN's connections from the US to Taiwan and the Philippines. 

On Feburary 21, 2022,  Dr.Peng Telecom&Media Group Co.,Ltd (Dr. Peng Group), a private telecom operator in China and the then parent company of PLDC, disclosed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange that Dr. Peng Group has entered into an agreement with Meister United Limited (Meister) for the sales of PLDC. Under such agreement, Dr. Peng will transfer 100% shares in PLDC to Meister, subject to various closing conditions. Meister is a company established in the British Virgin Islands in August 2021, funded by F.I.T. Ventures, a Canada-based family wealth management firm. Upon closing of the transaction, Chinese Dr. Peng Group will divest completely its shares in PLDC and indirect ownership in PLCN. 

The Hong Kong-America Cable System（HKA）is a 6-fiber-pair submarine cable connecting Hong Kong and the U.S. directly, with initial design capacity of 12.8 Tbps per fiber pair (for a total of 76.8 Tbps) using 100Gbps coherent DWDM technology.

The HKA Consortium consists of Facebook, China Telecom, China Unicom, RTI Express, Tata Communication and Telstra. The HKA supply contract is awarded to ASN. The HKA Consortium and ASN officially announced the launch of HKA cable project at PTC 2018.

The HKA cable system consists of a main trunk and three branching units:

• Main Trunk, six fiber pairs connecting Chung Hom Kok in Hong Kong SAR and Hermosa Beach, China Telecom and China Unicom each owns one fiber pair, RTI, Tata and Telstra each owns a half fiber pair, Facebook owns two and half fiber pairs. 
• Toucheng Branch, with six fiber pairs, two owned by Telstra and four owned by Facebook.
• Manchester Branch, with two fiber pairs wholy owned Facebook.
• Hermosa Beach Branch, with six fiber pairs, China Telecom and China Unicom each owns one fiber pair, RTI, Tata and Telstra each owns a half fiber pair, Facebook owns two and half fiber pairs.

China Telecom controls the cable landing station in Chung Hom Kok (GB21), Telstra controls the cable landing station in Toucheng.

Facebook is the landing party in the US, controls the Mancherster cable landing stations and the Hermosa Beach cable landing station (which is owned by RTI Infrastructure). Facebook will have exclusive control over the PFE located in RTI-I’s Hermosa Beach cable landing station, retain operational authority over the HKA landing facilities at Hermosa Beach and provide direction to RTI-I in all matters relating to the HKA system. The SLTEs for all of the HKA cable system’s fiber pairs will be installed at CoreSite’s One Wilshire and Wilshire Annex data centers in Los Angeles.

The HKA consortium withdrew the application to the FCC for cable landing license in the United States in March 2021.

The JUPITER Cable System is approximately 14,600 km in length and consists of 5 fiber pairs with a design capacity of more than 60 Tbps. The JUPITER Cable System connects Maruyama, Japan; Shima, Japan; Los Angeles, California, USA; and Daet, Camarines Norte, Philippines. As a new transpacific submarine cable route, the JUPITER Cable System will provide greater diversity of connections and enhanced reliability for customers, as well as optimal connectivity to data centers on the West Coast of the United States.

The JUPITER Cable Consortium include Amazon, Facebook, NTT, PCCW Global, PLDT and SoftBank.

JUPITER cable system consist of three main segments:

• The Main Trunk connects Maruyama and Shima, Japan, with Hermosa Beach, California.
• The Philippines Branch connects Daet Cable Landing Station, Philippines, with a branching unit on the Main Trunk, with two fiber pairs and soly invested and owned by PLDT.
• The Oregon Branch connects Pacific City CLS in Oregon, with a branching unit on the Main Trunk, with two fiber pairs and soly invested and owned by Facebook.

The JUPITER Cable System (main trunk) was ready for service in May 2021, its Philippines Branch ready for service in July 2022. 

For more information about the Jupiter cable system, please visit JUPITER Cable System Overview.

FASTER is a 11629 km trans-pacific cable system, landing at Chikura and Shima in Japan, Tanshui in Taiwan and Bandon in the US,  and seamlessly connecting many neighboring cable systems to extend the capacity beyond Japan to other Asian locations, and reaching major hubs on the US West Coast covering the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle areas.

FASTER consists of 6-fiber-pair cable, designed with 100Gbps x 100 DWDM technologies and an initial design capacity of 60Tbps.

The FASTER consortium is comprised of China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Global Transit (Time dotCom), Google, KDDI and SingTel.

The total investment for the FASTER cable system is estimated to be approximately USD $300 million, supplied by NEC.

FASTER cable system has been ready-for-service during as of June 30, 2016.

The New Cross Pacific [NCP] Cable System is a 13000km new generation high capacity fibre-optic submarine cable system across the Pacific Ocean directly connecting the US and Asia with landings in China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and the US. 

The NCP cable system consists seven fiber pairs, initially deploying with 100Gbps DWDM technology and a total design capacity of 70Tbps.

The NCP consortium comprises China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, KT Corporation, Softbank and Microsoft, which signed Construction and Maintenance Agreement in October 2014. The Supply Contract for NCP cable system was awrded to TE SubCom.

The NCP project is Microsoft's first investment in international submarine cable system as a consortium member and the landing party in the United States. Microsoft builds a cable landing station in Pacific City, Oregon for the landing of NCP cable in the United States. 

The Japan-US segment of the NCP cable system entered into commercial service on February 22, 2018. The whole NCP cable system was ready for service in January 2019, due to the delay in segment to Nanhui CLS and Lingang CLS in Shanghai, China.

Unity is a linear 9620km Trans-Pacific submarine cable system connecting Chikura, Japan and Los Angeles, USA. Unity cable system was ready for service on April 1, 2010. 

Unity cable lands at Hermosa Beach in Los Angeles, with its SLTE housing at Coresite LA1 - One Wilshire carrier neutral data center, offering PoP-PoP connectivity.

Unity cable system consists of eight fiber pairs, initially designed with 96x10G DWDM system and design capacity of 7.68 Tbps.

Unity Consortium (Joint Builder) comprises Bharti Airtel (10%), Global Transit(10%), Google(20%), KDDI Corp.(10%), Pacnet (now Telstra, 40%), and SingTel (10%), which executed a Joint Building Agreement in February 2008. Unity Consortium represents a new type of consortium, Joint Build, born out of potentially competing systems, to emerge as a system within a system, offering ownership and management of individual fiber pairs for each consortium member.

Pacnet (now Telstra) owns two dedicated fiber pairs in the Unity cable system, and rebranded it as EAC Pacific.

Unity Consortium demonstrated Google's first investment in an international submarine cable system as the landing party in the United State for Unity.  Google owns one dedicated fiber pair in the Unity cable system.

Unity cable system was jointly supplied by NEC and Tyco (now SubCom). The initial construction cost of Unity cable system is approximately $300 million.

In October 2013, Pacnet (now Telstra) upgraded the EAC Pacific (Unity) with 100G DWDM technology.

In January 2023, the Unity cable system was upgraded to 7.4Tbps per FP with Infinera's ICE6 800G coherent optical solution.

The SEA-US cable system links the five areas and territories of Manado in Indonesia, Davao in Southern Philippines; Piti in the territory of Guam; as well as Honolulu (on the island of Oahu), Hawaii; and Los Angeles, California in the continental U.S.

The SEA-US cable system spans approximately 15,000 kilometers in length, stretches along a unique route and has been designed and engineered to bypass earthquake prone areas in East Asia, thereby providing a strategic diversity in the range of connectivity to transpacific networks with ensured stable connectivity.

The SEA-US cable system consists of two optical fiber pairs on each segment, with an initial configuration capacity of 1.6Tbps and a total design capacity of 20Tbps using 100-gigabit wavelength technology.

The investment cost for SEA-US cable system is approximately US $250 million. The SEA-US consortium consists of PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Globe Telecom, RAM Telecom International (RTI), Hawaiian Telcom, Teleguam Holdings (GTA), GTI Corporation (a member of the Globe Telecom group of companies) and Telkom USA.

The  SEA-US cable system has been ready for service since August 2017.

PC-1 submarine cable system is owned and operated wholy by Pacific Crossing, an NTT Communications Corporation company. This trans-pacific submarine cable system PC-1 netowrk consists of 4 optical fiber pairs, uses the state-of-the-art technology for optical transmission and submarine cable system, forms protected network rings, connecting the U.S. and Japan. The 21,000km PC-1 submarine cable system offers the highest reliability and the lowest latency across the Pacific. Supported by extensive backhaul into major U.S. and Japanese cities, Pacific Crossing’s infrastructure offers seamless interconnection to virtually every major international network operator for onward global access. With PC-1 network, Pacific Crossing delivers state-of-the-art capacity and managed network services at competitive prices to a growing customer base of carriers and media and information transport-intensive enterprise customers. PC-1 offers protected trans-pacific capacity up to 10Gbps (SDH and wavelength), as well as Ethernet services up to 10G LAN PHY and 10G WAN PHY. In July 2013,  the PC-1 network was upgraded with 100G coherent technology, offering 100GE connections from Japan to the USA.

TGN-Pacific (Tata TGN-Pacific, a part of Tyco Global Network, ) was initially builded, designed and operated wholly by Tyco Telecommunications, completed in December 2002. TGN forms a self-healing ring connecting the U.S. to Japan, with north route linking Emi and Hilsboro, and south route linking Toyohashi, and branches to Piti Guam and Los Angeles. On May 3, 2005, Tata Communications(formerly VSNL) announced the acquisition of TGN for $130 million,or Rs 585 crore, in a cash deal.

TPE or Trans-Pacific Express submarine cable system is the second subsea cable system directly linking China and USA, aims to offer high capacity between USA and China as well as other Asian countries and regions. The consortium of TPE includes 6 initial parties from China Unicom and China Netcom (which are consilidated as China Unicom), China Telecom, Verizon Business, Korea Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom, sharing the joint investment of US$ 500 million and equal rights of vote and capacity ownership. NTT and AT&T participated in the consortium in March 2008.  TPE was completed in September 30, 2008. The design capacity of TPE cable system is 5.12Tbps, operating at 10Gbps DWDM.

The TPC-5 Cable Network (TPC-5 CN) is the first self-healing trans-Pacific undersea optic fiber ring network. The TPC-5 CN consists two optic fiber pairs, stretching 22560 km, linking six cable landing stations in Japan, Guam, Hawaii and the US mainland. The TPC-5 CN forms a four-fiber-ring automatic protection switching network among the six cable landing stations, each fiber pair capable of 5 Gbps transmission.

The southern route of the TPC-5 CN was put into service in 1995, while its northern route was ready for service on December 31, 1996. The consortium member invested totally US$1.24 billion in the TPC-5 cable network.

China-US CN was early retired in Dec. 2016.

China-US CN (China-US Cable Network or CUCN) is the first submarine cable system with direct cable routes linking the U.S. and China, reaching several countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This trans-pacific subsea optical fiber cable system was planned in 1997 and put into service in early 2000, constructed by a consortium including AT&T, China Telecom, NTT, KT, CHT etc.. China-US CN subsea cable consists of four optical fiber pairs in its northern trans-pacific trunk between Chongming cable landing station and Bandon cable landing station, and southern trans-pacific trunk between Shantou cable landing station and San Lius Obispo cable landing station, as well as the western and eastern trunks linking Shantou- Chongming, and Bandon-San Lius Obispo respectively, with branches to Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Guam. China-US CN was designed with 8x2.488 Gbps (STM-16) SDH over DWDM, a total of 80 Gbps trans-pacific system capacity with SDH self-healing ring protection. China-US CN was the largest trans-pacific subsea cable system as of its commencement of service.

The Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN) forms a protected ring network among 9 cable landing stations (two each in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the US mainland, and one in Fiji) and an access point in San Jose, California. The Southern Cross Cable Network contains 3 fiber pairs between Sydney and Hawaii, and 4 fiber pairs between Hawaii and the US West Coast, with almost 30,500 km in length, including 28,900km of submarine cable and 1,600km of terrestrial cable.

The Ready for Service (RFS) for Phase A of the Southern Cross network - comprising all nine stations and all segments except Segment D (from Hawaii to California) - was achieved on 15 November 2000. Completion of the fully protected loop network (RFS Phase B) was achieved on 28 February 2001.

The Southern Cross Cable Network is invested, owned and operated by Southern Cross Cables Limited (SCCL,a Bermuda private limited company) which was owned indrectly by Spark NZ (50%), Singtel EInvestments (40%) and Verizon Business (10%). In 2018, Telstra acquired 25% stake in SCCN and substantial capacity on both the existing network and the new Southern Cross NEXT subsea cable. As a result, SCCL is owned by Spark NZ (38.12%), Singtel EInvestments (30.49%), Telstra (25%) and Verizon Business (6.4%). Visit here for the ownership chart of SCCL and PCLI.

The Southern Cross Cable Network was originally designed to working with 10 Gbps DWDM and deliver 120Gbps of fully protected capacity (240Gbps across the network). 

On July 30, 2013, Southern Cross announced the completion of upgrade with Ciena's 100G technology, increasing its lit capacity to 2.6Tbps and system capacity to 12Tbps.

The latest upgrades (Phase J) will increase total lit network capacity to approximately 12.8Tbps over the next few years. Following the introduction of the latest 100Gbps technology the current system potential is estimated at more than 22Tbps.

Japan-US CN (Japan-US Cable Network or JUSCN) is the first high capacity trans-pacific subsea cable system using DWDM technology of 10 Gbps per wavelength. Japan-US CN consists of four fiber pairs, each operating at 10 Gbps DWDM, with design capacity of 640 Gbit/s. Initially, Japan-US CN operated at 80 Gbit/s with two lit fiber pairs, expanding to 400 Gbps in mid 2001 by lighting the two remaining fiber pairs each with 16 wavelengths at 10 Gbps per wavelength, further upgrading to 1.28 Tbps in early 2008.

The Telstra Endeavour cable system is 100 per cent Telstra-owned submarine cable system between Sydney and Hawaii, the largest ever commissioned by an Australian company. The Telstra Endeavour provides an improvement in latency over existing submarine cable systems. At 90ms (Sydney-Hawaii) and 138ms (Sydney-Los Angeles via Endeavour and AAG), it is now the shortest path from Australia to the USA.

The Guam-Philippines Cable System (G-P Cable System) consists of two optical fiber pairs between the Batangas Cable Landing Station in the Philippines and the Tanguisson Cable Landing Station in Guam. The Guam-Philippines Cable System was ready for service in March 1999, with a design capacity of 40 Gbps (2x8x2.5 Gbps).

The America Samoa Hawaii Cable (ASH Cable) is the international fiber optic cable between American Samoa, Samoa and Hawaii and connects Samoa to the existing global telecommunications infrastructure networks.

The ASH Cable comprises of two cables installed between Samoa, American Samoa and Hawaii.

In addition, the Samoa-American Samoa Cable (SAS Cable) will provide inter-island communication, as well as enabling users in Samoa to access the ASH cable capacity and connect to the global networks.

While ASH Cable and SAS Cable are much smaller than the gargantuan systems across the North Pacific, they will provide more than 40 times the capacity currently in use in both island groups combined.

The ASH cable project is significantly different from the traditional submarine cable provisioning. The Samoan islands are in a fortunate position to re-utilize the former PACRIM East cable between Hawaii and Auckland that runs along the seabed, about 100 miles east of Pago Pago in the island of America Samoa.

The PACRIM East cable was the original fibre optic cable across the Pacific, laid in the 1990’s. It had large capacity then but by today’s standards its capacity is insufficient to effectively service the needs of New Zealand and Australia. As such, larger capacity cables – Southern Cross and Telstra Australia’s Sydney-Hawaii cables with capacities of Terabits – service their needs.

The project involves recovering the PACRIM East cable from the seabed south east of American Samoa, cutting it and laying it into American Samoa at Pago Pago. During the pick-up process, additional cable will be recovered for re-laying between Pago Pago and Apia, Samoa.

Major cost saving has been achieved in relaying the fibre cable as only a small section of the cable is being recovered and re-laid.

The ASH/SAS Cable consists of three cable landing stations, i.e., the Keawaula Cable Landing Station in Hawaii, the Pago Pago  Cable Landing Station in American Samoa, and the Apia Cable Landing Station in Samoa. The ASH/SAS Cable was ready for service on 28 May 2009.

The Honotua Cable System is a 5000 Km submarine communications cable system that connects several islands of French Polynesia via Tahiti to Hawaii, USA.

The international portion of the Honotua cable links the Kawaihae Cable Landing Station in Hawaii and the Papenoo Cable Landing Station in Tahiti, French Polynesia, contains a single fiber pair initially designed with 32x10 Gbps DWDM system. Its domestic system comprises of 2 fiber pairs initially designed with 8x10 Gbps each.

The Honotua Cable System has cable landing points at: 

• Vaitape,Bora Bora,French Polynesia
• Uturoa,Raiatea, French Polynesia
• Huahine, French Polynesia
• Moorea, French Polynesia
• Papenoo,Tahiti, French Polynesia
• Spencer Beach, Kawaihae, Hawaii

The baptismal name bestowed to this Polynesian project, HONOTUA, perfectly reflects the philosophy that lies behind it. HONO means link in the Tahitian language. It is the link between the human beings, peoples, cultures and civilizations. TUA means the open sea, the high seas. But it is also the back, the backbone. Thus HONOTUA is the link that relates Polynesian to the rest of the world, the backbone on which all the information channels interconnect.

The Honotua Cable System is owned and operated by the government-owned OPT (Office des Postes et Télécommunications) of French Polynesia, supplied by ASN.

In 2008, OPT and the Hawaii-based Wavecom Solutions (then known as Pacific LightNet Inc., or PLNI) signed a Landing Party Agreement (LPA) which permits OPT to land Honotua at the Kawaihae Cable Landing Station located near Spencer Beach on the Big Island of Hawaii. In 2012, Hawaiian Telcom completed the acquisition of Wavecom Solutions.

In late 2022, the Honotua cable system was upgraded with Ciena's GeoMesh Solution powered by the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and WaveLogic Ai technology, delivering 300Gbps of capacity and supporting an upgrade path to 5Tbps of total capacity to rapidly address future growth.

The Palau Cable 1 (PC1) is the first international submarine cable connecting Palau, ready for service in 2017. The PC1 cable stretches about 200km connecting Palau to a branching unit of the SEA-US cable.

Palau's remote location led to a slow uptake of its information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Prior to the PC1, Palau relied on expensive and limited satellite links for internet connection.

Under the North Pacific Regional Connectivity Investment Project, Asian Development Bank (ADB) provides $25 million financing supports for the PC1 project, helping to build a submarine cable system linking Palau to the internet cable hub in Guam. 

The PC1 cable system is owned and operated by the Belau Submarine Cable Corporation (BSCC). Established in 2016, BSCC is a state-owned public corporation that owns and manages a submarine fiber optic cable network for the Republic of Palau. 

BSCC lands the cable at the Ngeremlengui Cable Landing Station, known as the Capacity Access Point at Ngeremlengui (CAP-N).

In addition to the PC1, BSCC builds the Palau Cable 2 as a branch to the Echo subsea cable with direct connections to Singapore and the mainland United States.

SxS Cable System (SxS) is a 10,500-kilometer undersea fiber optic cable system directly connecting Guam and California, with an initial design capacity of more than 96 Tbps.

SxS cable system is privately invested by RTI Connectitivty (RTI-C). SxS will seamlessly interconnect with HK-G, JGA North, JGA South and SEA-US cable systems in a new purpose-built, RTI-owned facility in Guam. 

The Hong Kong-Guam (HK-G) cable system is a 3,700 kilometer undersea cable connecting Tseung Kwan O (TKO), Hong Kong and Piti, Guam.

RTI (through its multiple affiliates RTI Solutions, Inc, RTI HK-G PTE. LTD., and RTI Connectivity PTE. LTD) and Google (through its indirect subsidiary GU Holding Inc) are the joint builders of the HK-G cable system.

The HK-G cable system consists of 4 fiber pairs, with design capacity of 48 Tbps (12 Tbps per fiber pair).

Google owns approximiately two thirds of a fiber pair on the HK-G cable system via spectrum sharing technology. RTI HK-G owns all the remaining capacity and fiber pairs. 

RTI Connectivity controls RTI HK-G’s interests in the HK-G system through its role as Asset Manager of RTI HK-G. RTI Connectivity was appointed RTI HK-G’s Asset Manager through an Asset Management Agreement by and between the two companies.

RTI Solutions serves as the U.S. landing party and control the Guam landing arrangements for the HK-G system under a contract with the cable landing station owner, Gateway Network Connections LLC ("GNC"), a Guam limited liability company that is 51 percent owned by Asia Connectivity Elements, Inc. (“ACE”), a Guam corporation, and 49 percent owned by TeleGuam Holdings, LLC (“GTA”). 

RTI HK-G serves as Hong Kong landing party to land the cable at NTT's TKO Cable Landing Station and data center in Hong Kong.

NEC was awarded the supply contract for the HK-G cable system. Furthermore, HK-G cable system utilizes capital from the Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japan’s ICT and Postal Services Inc. (Japan ICT Fund), along with syndicated loans from Japanese institutions including NEC Capital Solutions Limited, etc.

In November 2020, HK-G joint builders withdrew from the FCC their application for a license to construct, land, and operate the HK-G submarine cable system connecting the United States and Hong Kong.

The H2 submairne cable system will be the first direct subsea cable between Sydney and Hong Kong (9,200km), with a branch to Los Angeles (12,500km) providing optimal diversity with existing Hawaiki cable.

The H2 cable system will provide the lowest latency from Australia across the Pacific Ocean, with the Sydney to Hong Kong branch carrying 15 Tbps per fibre pair and the Sydney to Los Angeles branch carrying more than 12.9 Tbps per fibre pair, and will follow a diverse route to the north of New Caledonia.

H2 cable seems a sister-cable of Hawaiki Cable. According to Linkedin, H2 Cable Pte. Ltd. is a Singapore-based company.  H2 CEO Georges Krebs still takes the role of Vise President Network and Technology at Hawaiki Cable Limited, while Mr. Rémi Galasso, the Founder and CEO at Hawaiki Cable Limited is the Chairman at H2 Cable.

H2 Cable awarded SubCom the contract to supply, design and install H2 submarine cable system.

The Trans Pacific Networks (TPN) will be the first subsea route to directly connect Singapore, Indonesia, and the U.S., and will have the capability to serve several markets in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The TPN cable project will be developed on terms that prioritize quality, high social and environmental standards, and financial sustainability.

The TPN subsea cable will be a critical element of the Indo-Pacific’s digital infrastructure, ultimately strengthening networks and increasing capacity while reducing internet costs in the region.

The TPN cable project is supported by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.

The Southern Cross NEXT is a 15,857 km submarine cable system connecting Sydney, Auckland and Los Angeles, with branching units linking the Pacific Islands of Fiji, Tokelau, and Kiribati.

The Southern Cross NEXT will be a high capacity express route, providing data-centre connectivity between Sydney, Auckland, and Los Angeles, to be the lowest latency path from Australia and New Zealand to the United States, with a design capacity of 72 Tbps and four fiber pairs over its trunk between Sydney and Los Angeles. The Southern Cross NEXT is an extension of the existing Southern Cross eco-system.

The Southern Cross NEXT is expected to cost around US$350 million, invested by Southern Cross Cable Limited (a Bermuda private limited company), with its sister company Pacific Carriage Limited Inc (PCLI, a Delaware corporation) as landing party in the US, and its subsidiaries in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Pacific Island as landing party in corresponding countries. Please visit here for more details about the Southern Cross NEXT system ownership.

Southern Cross Cable Limited was owned by Spark NZ (50%), Singtel-Optus (40%) and Verizon Business (10%). In December 2018, Telstra acquired a 25% stake in SCCN and substantial capacity on both the existing network and the new Southern Cross NEXT subsea cable. As a result, SCCL is owned by Spark NZ (38.12%), Singtel EInvestments (30.49%), Telstra (25%) and Verizon Business (6.4%). There is similar ownership for Pacific Carriage Limited Inc, with Singtel's Optus Networks Pty Ltd replacing Singtel EInvestments. Visit here for the ownership chart of SCCL and PCLI.

The supply contract was awarded to ASN and was granted CIF (Contract In Force) in October 2019.

The Southern Cross NEXT was launched for service on July 7, 2022.

The CAP-1 cable system is a 12,000 kilometers submarine cable system connecting California, USA and Pagudpud, Philippines.

The CAP-1 cable system will land at: 

• Grover Beach Cable Landing Station, USA
• Pagudpud Cable Landing Station, the Philippines

The CAP-1 cable system consists of six fiber pairs and a single trunk of 12,000km, with a design capacity of 90 waves x 200 Gbps (or equivalent) per fiber pair using current technology, with an aggregate design capacity of 108 Tbps. 

The CAP-1 cable system is de facto reconfigured BtoBE cable system. Due to geopoliticial tensions and US concerns on national security, the BtoBE consortium withdrew the application for cable landing license in the United States in September 2020. Meanwhile, the same applicants including Facebook, Amazon and China Mobile filed with the FCC a new application for to land and operate the CAP-1 cable system connecting the United States and the Philippines. China Mobile would own three out of the six fiber pairs of the system, Facebook two and half fiber pairs, and Amazon half fiber pair. 

On August 9, 2021, Facebook and Amazon filed with the FCC an amended application, removing China Mobile International Limited (China Mobile) as an applicant of the CAP-1 cable system. Pursuant to an agreement executed on August 8, 2021, China Mobile agreed to transfer to Facebook and Amazon all rights, title, and interests in relation to the facilities between the Grover Beach, California landing point and the reconfiguration demarcation point off the coast of the Philippines. And Facebook and Amazon also agreed to assume all related obligations and liabilities. As a result, Facebook and Amazon would own five fiber pairs (83.3333%) and one fiber pair (16.6667%) out of the total six fiber pairs respectively.

On April 19, 2022, Facebook and Amazon notified the FCC of the withdrawal of the above amended application, and requested that the FCC dismiss the application without prejudice to any future filings for the same or similar.

Echo subsea cable system connnects Eureka in California, Guam, Indonesia and Singapore, and other locations.

Echo’s architecture is designed for maximum resilience, with unique Trans Pacific route to Southeast Asia avoiding crowded, traditional paths to the north.

Echo subsea cable system is the first-ever subsea cable to directly connect the U.S. to Singapore with direct fiber pairs over an express route.

The main trunk of the Echo cable system spans 16206km from Singapore to Eureka, California, the United States, with 12 fiber pairs and a design capacity of 12 Tbps per fiber pair using current technology for a total system capacity of 144Tbps.

Google and Facebook are joint builders of the Echo cable system. Indonesian telecommunications firm XL Axiata acts as the landing party in Indonesia. Google through its subsidiary Google Singapore Pte Ltd is the landing party in Singapore. Facebook through its subsidiary Edge USA is landing party in the United States for California and Guam landings. 

Echo subsea cable system is supplied by NEC.

Echo subsea cable system is expected to be ready for service in 2023. 

According to earlier news on the Palau Cable 2, the Echo subsea cable system will have a branch to Palau Island. The Palau Cable 2 is in fact the Echo Palau Branch.

Bifrost Cable System is new trans-pacific cable system connecting Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, the United State (Guam, Gorover Beach, Winema) and Mexico, with its main trunk linking Singapore to the United States over 16,460 km via Indonesia through the Java Sea and Celebes Sea.

Bifrost consortium comprises Meta (Facebook), PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), and Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Limited (Keppel T&T).

Keppel T&T, through its wholly owned subsidiary Keppel Midgard Holdings Pte. Ltd. (KMH), participates in the Bifrost consortium as its first direct investment in a subsea cable system, and has acquired a Facilities-Based Operator (FBO) licence issued by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA). The FBO licence allows KMH to own, maintain and operate telecoms infrastructure in Singapore and to provide telecommunications services in connection with the Bifrost cable system. KMH's share of the total project costs as a joint build partner is approximately US$350million (or approximately S$467 million).

KMH has sold Converge ICT Solutions Inc. (Converge) one fiber pair on the main trunk of the Bifrost cable system on IRU-basis for over US$100 million (around PhP 5 billion). Converge acts as the landing party to land the Bifrost cable system in Davao, the Philippines, and is granted an IRU on the entire Davao branch.

The Bifrost cable system is supplied by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), expected to be completed in Q2, 2024. 

The Bifrost cable system is designed with 12 fiber-pair SDM technology and 10.4Tbps/FP, with the following segments

• Main trunk between Tuas, Singapore, Guam (Alupang) and Grover Beach, USA: 12FP, 16,460km
• Winema branch: 6FP, 1,526km 
• Rosarito branch: 6FP, 1,127km
• Davao branch: 10FP,  184km
• Manado branch: 6FP, 311km
• Jakarta branch: 12FP, 280km
• Balikpapan branch (stub-BU)

Palau Cable 2 (PC2) is a subsea cable of approximately 110km to connect the Palau Repblic with a large-capacity submarine optical cable that connects Southeast Asia and the U.S. mainland (Echo subsea cable system).

PC2 adopts the latest optical wavelength multiplexing transmission system of 100Gbps.

Palau Cable 2 is invested and owned by the National Submarine Cable Utility Belau Submarine Cable Corporation (BSCC) of the Palau Republic, costs about US$30 million.

Japan, the United States and Australia provide joint financing support for the Palau Cable 2 project, which marks the first project to be delivered under the Trilateral Partnership for Infrastructure Investment in the Indo-Pacific between the United States, Australia and Japan.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) signed a buyer’s credit (export finance) loan agreement with BSCC. The loan portion from SMBC is insured by Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI).

Australia, through the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP), signed a series of agreements with BSCC to provide fund of approximately USD10 million, including a loan of approximately USD9 million. 

Additional financing is from Palau’s CRA CIP funds with the approval of the United States.

The Palau Republic provides sovereign guarantees against the loans by Japan and Australia.

NEC is the supplier for the Palau Cable 2 project as well as the Echo subsea cable system to which the Palau Cable 2 will be connected. 

NEC supplied the first optical submarine cable connecting the Palau Repblic in 2017, the Palau Cable 1 (PC 1).

Palau Cable 2 and Palau Cable 1 will ensure the redundancy of Palau's network, realizes highly reliable communications, and responds to the increasing demand for communications, thereby contributing to further economic development in Palau.

Hawaiki Nui is a 22,000km submarine cable connecting New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singpaore and the United States.

Hawaiki Nui subsea cable project was launched by Hawaiki Submarine Cable Limited Partnership (Hawaiki) in November 2021. Hawaiki has selected PT Mora Telematika Indonesia (Moratelindo) as its strategic partner for Indonesia. Moratelindo will serve as the Indonesian landing party, acquire all necessary permits and authorisations in Indonesia for the project, and provide local terrestrial infrastructures for landing the subsea cable in Indonesia.

Hawaiki Nui cable system features the latest spatial division multiplexing (SDM) technology, with a design capacity of 240Tbps.

Hawaiki Nui cable system will provide end-to-end connectivity between the three main hubs of the Pacific region: Singapore, Sydney and Los Angeles. There are also landing planned in Jakarta and Batam, Indonesia.

In Australia, Hawaiki Nui will link Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin, while providing them with direct access to Singapore and Los Angeles.

In New Zealand, Hawaiki Nui will be the first international cable to land in the South Island of New Zealand, linking Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill directly to Australia via a new and fully diverse subsea route.

In addition, two branches will be built to connect Oahu and Big Island in Hawaii.

Hawaiki Nui will couple with the existing Hawaiki cable.

Hawaiki Nui cable system is expected to be ready for service in 2025.

The Humboldt Cable System is a 14810 km submarine cable connecting Valparaíso (Chile) and Sydney (Australia), with branches for the possible connection of other countries and territories, such as Juan Fernández and Isla de Pascua, New Zealand.

The Humboldt Cable project is an initiative of the Government of Chile. In September 2019, the Fondo de Infraestructura, S.A. of Chile selected Telecommunications Management Group, Inc. (TMG) and WFN Strategies, LLC (WFN) to do economic, technical, and legal feasibility study for the Humboldt Cable System. The TMG-WFN consortium received a fund of US$2,982,532 from the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) which funded the feasibility study.

The Humboldt Cable project is expected to cost approximately US$400million. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Japan ICT Fund (JICT Fund) will provide funds for the project to support NEC as the system vendor.

In December 2021, the Fondo de Infraestructura, S.A. of Chile selected H2 Cable LP, a subsidiary of BW Digital (the owner of Hawaiki Cable System), as a strategic partner for the development of the Humboldt Cable System. 

Topaz is the first-ever submarine optic fiber cable to connect Canada and Asia, and the first trans-Pacific fiber cable to land on the West Coast of Canada.

Topaz cable will land in

• Port Alberni, Vancouver, Canada,
• Shima (Mie prefecture), Japan
• Takahagi (Ibaraki Prefecture), Japan

In Port Alberni, Topaz cable will land at an existing cable landing station which was origionally the landing station for the legacy Commonwealth Pacific Cable System (COMPAC), a copper undersea cable linking Vancouver with Honolulu (United States), Sydney (Australia), and Auckland (New Zealand). The cable landing station has been upgraded to fit the needs of modern fiber optics and will house the eastern end of the Topaz cable.

The Topaz cable system consists of 16 fiber pairs, for a total capacity of 240 Tbps, featuring the support for Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS), an efficient and software-defined way to carve up the spectrum on an optical fiber pair for flexibility in routing and advanced resilience.

The Topaz cable system is delevoped by Google, to be ready for service in 2023.

JUNO is a new submarine cable system connecting Japan and the United States, with a cable length of approximately 11,700km

The JUNO cable system introduces leading-edge SDM (Space Division Multiplexing) technology, enabling the provision of 20 fiber pairs (40 cores) per cable, compared with a maximum of 16 fiber pairs or 32 cores using conventional technology.

The JUNO cable system consists of the following segments: 

• Trunk between Minamiboso, Japan and Grover Beach, USA: 18 Tbps/FP (20FPs), 9,356 km
• Harbour Pointe branch: 18 Tbps/FP (14FPs), 1,450 km
• Shima branch: 18 Tbps/FP (14FPs), 904 km

The JUNO cable system will provide a system capacity of 360Tbps, the largest among all of the existing trans-pacific cable systems, followed by Google's Topaz cable system of 240Tbps over 16 fiber pairs, and Hawaiki Nui of 240Tbps and PLCN of 144Tbps.

The JUNO cable system will be owned and operated privately by Seren Juno Network Co., Ltd. (“Seren Juno”).

Established in July 2022, Seren Juno is a joint venture of NTT Ltd. Japan Corporation, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., PC Landing Corp, and JA Mitsui Leasing, Ltd..  Seren Juno is a company incorporated in Japan and a special purpose vehicle for design, construction, sales and operations of the JUNO trans-Pacific submarine cable system.

Seren Juno establishes a wholly owned subsidiary Seren Juno Network America, Inc. (Seren Juno America), a company incorporated in California, the United States, as JUNO's landing party in the United States.

Seren Juno America contracts with PC Landing Corp, the owner of Grover Beach CLS and Harbour Pointe CLS, to land the JUNO cable system at these cable landing stations.

NEC Corporation (NEC) announced on July 21, 2022 that it has been contracted by Seren Juno Network Co., Ltd. to build the JUNO Cable System. 

The JUNO cable system is expected to be ready for service by the end of 2024.

The Japan-Washington State Trans-Pacific Cable System (JAWS TPCS) is a new transpacific submarine cable system planned to provide a diverse and low-latency connection between the United States and Japan, as well as onward connectivity to Asia-Pacific destinations.

The JAWS cable system is planned by Quintillion, an Alaskan telecommunication company.

Quintillion has established a fiber-optic cable network that extends 1,200 miles under the sea and 500 miles over land in Alaska, as the Phase 1 project of the legacy Arctic Fibre which was acquired by Quintillion in May 2016.  Quintillion's fiber network is now the first and only system in Alaska with world-class infrastructure that delivers sub-gigabit, gigabit, and terabit bandwidth services to the North American Arctic.

The JAWS cable system is the Phase 2 project of Quintillion network. It will enable interconnection with the existing Alaskan network. All of which will be achieved using a new submarine cable system, extending from a new branching unit (to be placed along the JAWS-TPCS to the Phase 1 Nome branching unit).

The JAWS cable system will features:

• Being a replacement for the PC1 cable which will reach its end of life in about five years.
• Diverse cable landing site in Washington State to improve diversity by adding to existing ones in Oregon and California.
• Direct access to Seattle and Portland.
• Cable landing site in Ajiguara (Japan) to provide multiple cross-connection options in Asia.
• A cost-effective backhaul to Tokyo.

The TPU cable system is a trans-pacific fiber-optic submarine cable system connecting the United States with Taiwan and the Philippines, with a cable length of approximately 13470 kilometers.

The TPU cable system is privately owned by Google through its various subsidiaries:

• GU Holdings Inc. owns 100% of the voting and economic interest of the Portion in U.S. Territory
• Google Singapore Pte. Ltd. owns 100% of the voting and economic interest of the portion in International Waters and the Portion in Philippines Territory
• Google Taiwan Limited owns 100% of the voting and economic interest of the Portion in Taiwan Territory

The TPU cable system lands at

• Eureka CLS, California, USA. The Eureka CLS is owned by EdgeConnex Arcata Holdings, LLC (EdgeConnex)
• Tanguisson CLS, Guam, USA. The Tanguisson CLS is owned by AT&T.
• Dawu CLS, Taiwan. The Dawu CLS is newly built and owned by Chunghwa Telecom (CHT).
• Claveria CLS, Philippines. The Claveria CLS is newly built and owned by Innove Communications, Inc. (Innove), a subsidiary of Globe Group. 

The TPU cable system features 16 fiber pairs on its trans-pacific routes, with a total design capacity of approximately 13 Tbps per fiber pair, for a total system capacity of approximately 260 Tbps.

The TPU cable system is provided by NEC, using optical fiber switching technology in the branching units, also demonstrating the first commercial use of multi-core fiber in a subsea cable system.

The TPU cable system is expected to be ready for service in 2025. 

The East Micronesia Cable System (EMCS). EMCS is a 2,250km submarine cable system connecting four islands amongst the Federated States of Micronesia (Pohnpei and Kosrae), Kiribati (Tarawa) and Nauru. The EMCS is the first submarine cable connection for the islands of Tarawa (Kiribati), Nauru and the state of Kosrae (FSM).

The East Micronesia Cable System:

• Comprises a main trunk cable connecting Tarawa to Pohnpei with branches to Nauru and Kosrae .

• Provides optical transmission through a Single Fibre Pair with Spectrum Sharing between the countries, and an initial provisioned channel capacity of 100Gbps per country. (The system will be capable of 10 Tbps.)

• Connects into the existing Chuuk-Pohnpei Cable System, eliminating the need for an additional landing site in Pohnpei and adding resilience to the Chuuk-Pohnpei Cable System.

The East Micronesia Cable System (EMCS) is jointly owned and operated by FSM Telecommunications Cable Corporation (FSMTCC), based in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), BwebwerikiNet Limited (BNL) of the Republic of Kiribati, and Nauru Fibre Cable Corporation (NFCC) of the Republic of Nauru.

The East Micronesia Cable System (EMCS) is supplied by NEC.

The EMCS project costs approximately USD95 million (AUD$135 million equivalent), 100% grant funded by the Governments of Australia, Japan and the United States.

The Governments of the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, and Nauru (the EMC Countries) have accepted funding support from the Governments of Australia, Japan and the United States (the Development Partners) to deliver the East Micronesia Cable project. The Development Partners will collaborate with the EMC Countries to ensure a fit-for-purpose submarine cable provides essential and improved telecommunications connectivity. Australia, via the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP), is taking the lead role in funding and coordination arrangements. The AIFFP has contracted nem Australasia Pty Ltd as the Project Coordination Unit to support the EMC Countries facilitate management of the overall project. The Project Coordination Unit comprises a team of specialists covering technical, legal, administrative, and environmental/social requirements of the East Micronesia Cable project.

The EMCS project was originally led by the World Bank in associate with the Asian Development Bank. The Governments of FSM and Kiribati were granted fund from the World Bank(World Bank Project Number P130592), and the Nauru Government was granted fund from the ADB (Asian Development Bank Grant Number D004-FM). Chinese HMN Technologies (HMN Tech) was in a strong position to win a bid for the $72.6 million EMCS project, offered at more than 20% below rivals including Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) and NEC. But the project reached a stalemate due to security concerns raised within the island nations over HMN Tech's bid. The project's planned connection to a sensitive cable leading to Guam, a U.S. territory with substantial military assets, heightened those security concerns. During the bidding process in 2020, the Government of the United States detailed its concerns in a diplomatic note sent to FSM, which has military defence arrangements with the United States under a decades-old agreement. The note said Chinese firms posed a security threat. So, the World Bank-led project declined to award a contract to HMN Tech to lay sensitive undersea communications cables after Pacific island governments heeded U.S. warnings that participation of a Chinese company posed a security threat. Finally, the World Bank-led project sank after U.S. warns against Chinese bid. 

In December 2021, the Government of Australia, Japan, the United States, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Kiribati, and the Republic of Nauru reached a six-country joint statement to improve internet connectivity in the three Pacific nations by providing funding to build the EMCS project, which builds on the strong foundations of trilateral collaboration between Australia, Japan, and the United States in the Indo-Pacific. Later in July 2022, a six-country Memorandum of Understanding was signing for the EMCS project. 

In June 2023, Australia, Japan and the United States announced final agreement to fund the $95 million EMCS undersea cable project, supplied by Japanese NEC.

In an announcement in September 2023, the United States announced to provide an additional $2.5 million to continue U.S. support for the East Micronesia Cable in partnership with Australia and Japan, on top of its prior $20 million commitment.

Central Pacific Cable is a 15,900-kilometer subsea cable which plans to connect American Samoa with Guam - two U.S. territories, and extend to up to 12 more Pacific islands, including Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.

The Central Pacific Cable project demonstrates a strategic initiative of the United States, which aims to connect various Pacific islands and seeks to boost the U.S.’s interests in the Pacific region, where it competes for influence with China.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a grant to Tuvalu Telecom Corporation (TTC) for a feasibility study to support the development of the Central Pacific Cable.

TTC has selected Florida-based APTelecom LLC to conduct the feasibility study.

Honomoana is a new transpacific subsea cable connecting the United States and Australia to French Polynesia.

Named after the Polynesian word for “link” (hono) and “ocean” (moana), the Honomoana cable system is part of Google's South Pacific Connect initiative which includes Honomoana and Tabua, which connects the United States and Australia to Fiji. 

In addition to Honomoana and Tabua, the South Pacific Connect initiative will construct physically diverse cable landing stations in Fiji and French Polynesia and connect them with an interlink cable. 

The South Pacific Connect initiative will create a ring between Australia, Fiji and French Polynesia. This ring will include pre-positioned branching units that will allow other countries and territories of Oceania to take advantage of the reliability and resilience resulting from the initiative.