Pacific Cables + Completion of TGN - IA

Quotes from TM's talk:

• The increasing trend has seen upgrades and new submarine cable investment in Asia. An increase of 120% in the Trans-Pacific route capacity is already happening in 2008.
• An additional approx 4Tbps would be available; further 5-7 Tbps being planned for 2010
• Whilst these are planned capacity; it still uncertain as to the actual capacity that will be made available for the market
• If the trend is to be followed, then such capacity will be required. Again the issue of cost will creep in whereby can the end user actually be willing to pay for the ever increasing hunger for bandwidth
• The breakdown of the model of end users paying for the bandwidth may see the capacity being less utilised leading to over capacity

Several hours ago, Commsday has reported that "Tata Communications has confirmed that its TGN Intra-Asia cable is undergoing final testing and will be ready to carry traffic from February".

Some other quotes:

• The new cable fills a gap where while it has 100% ownership of cables between India and Singapore as well as Japan to the US it has inferior options in intra-Asia
• The cable connects Singapore and Japan via Hong Kong with branches to Vietnam and the Philippines; the direct link on the cable improves latency compared to other cables that are characterized by multiple hops on that route
• It avoided the route taken by other cables through the earthquake-prone section of Taiwan waters; the cable has been designed to be physically as far away as possible (from the critical regions)
  

• “We’ve always taken a contrarian view that ownership of undersea cables is critical in order to have the right cost structure and the end-to-end manageability that our customers are looking for.” ; “To have that ownership in Asia was important for us.”

• “We also believe that submarine cables are a good business investment if you get the right mix of wholesale and enterprise traffic.”
  

Source/Courtesy TM