SJC (2)

According to Evans (EGS):

"The supply contract for South East Asia Japan (SJC) seems at the time of writing about to be signed. This pan Asian system has landing sites in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan; the system has additional optional segments to Vietnam and Guam. Installation is expected in 2010."

Source/Courtesy : Graham Evans/WFN

Capacitymedia (10/2008):

Google is looking to extend its undersea cable reach across Asia. The company is part of a consortium of operators planning to build a cable from Chikura, Japan to Tuas, Singapore with branches reaching Guam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. The consortium includes Bharti Airtel, Singtel, KDDI, Global Transit as well as Globe Telecom in the Philippines and TOT in Thailand.

“If you look at Google’s current cable, the Unity cable between the US and Japan you see that they have more interest than just connecting to Japan,” says Alan Mauldin, research director at Telegeography. “They will be able to connect with a lot of different locations in Asia. Some of these places are clearly to serve local markets but some of these are strategic locations such as Singapore, which helps the company get to India. If you go to Guam there are options for getting to Australia with the new pipe coming along there.”

The Southeast Asia Japan Cable (SJC) is being planned by a similar consortium to that of the Unity Cable. Only Pacnet, which will have two fibre pairs on the Unity cable, will not be involved. “By doing this Google seems to meet its needs in terms of trying to get capacity at cost to serve its internal demand,” says Mauldin. “The cable actually looks nearly identical to the cable Tata is putting into service in the fourth quarter of this year. It follows a really similar path. It is not a ring-based system. It is a direct path between Japan and Singapore.”

If Alan's statement is true, then it is indeed quite reasonable that SJC will land in Tuas. Though, of course there are many other possibilities.