NEC, in partnership with Belau Submarine Cable (BSCC) and the government of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), announced it has commenced construction of three submarine cable links that will connect the islands of Palau, Yap and Chuuk in the western Pacific Ocean to the global network.
BSCC, supported by a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has signed a supply contract with NEC to build the spur to Palau, while FSM, backed by a grant from the World Bank (WB), has signed a supply contract with NEC to construct the spur to Yap, and recently signed an additional agreement for the extension from Pohnpei to Chuuk.
The spurs to Palau and Yap will both interconnect with the SEA-US cable system, also under construction by NEC, which connects the Philippines and Indonesia to the west coast of the U.S. via Guam and Hawaii. In addition, the extension from Pohnpei, the capital of FSM, to Chuuk branches out of another existing cable linking FSM, the Marshall Islands and Guam. All three routes feature transmission speeds of 100 Gbit/s per channel.
BSCC is a state-owned entity of the Republic of Palau with responsibility for the submarine cable project. BSCC has signed an IRU agreement with GTI (a subsidiary of Globe Telecom) for the provision of 5 x 100 Gbit/s wavelengths and a branching unit (BU) on the SEA-US West subsystem linking Indonesia, the Philippines and Guam. It has also contracted NEC to supply a spur cable linking the BU on the SEA-US West subsystem to Palau.
On completion of the project, BSCC will provide open bandwidth access to the international cable system for domestic telcos.
In addition, DTCI has signed an IRU agreement with Telkom Indonesia (Telin) for 5 x 100 Gbit/s wavelengths and a BU on the main trunk of the SEA-US West subsystem, plus a supply contract with NEC to deliver a spur cable linking the BU on the SEA-US West subsystem to Yap, along with a contract extension that includes a cable linking Weno Island Chuuk to the existing spur on to the HANTRU-1 cable system in Pohnpei to Guam.
Ownership and implementation responsibilities for the cable systems will pass from DTCI to the newly established FSM Telecommunications Cable (FSMTCC) which, as owner of the Yap and Chuuk cable systems, will provide open bandwidth access to the international cable systems for domestic telcos.
