TGN Pacific

Tata's TGN Pacific is actually a quite "old" system :-D; but it counts to the well-designed systems.

• The system forms a self-healing ring connecting US to Japan
  
• RFS : December 2002
• CAPEX: USD 1.7 bn (For comparison: Tata acquired Tyco for USD 130 mn in 11/2004 !!)
  
• Capacity : 460 Gbps initial ??; 960 Gbps (upgrade in 2006); 1.28 Tbps 2008 ??
• Length : 22,300 km

Source/Courtesy : Primetrica

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

Tata's Cables

Let's begin with a Wiki quotation :-)

Tata Communications, formerly known Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited or VSNL, is India's largest telecommunication company in international long distance, enterprise data and internet services. Part of the Tata Group, Tata Communications is based in Mumbai and has operations in over 80 cities spread across 40 countries. Tata Teleservices, one of India's largest and least congested cellular providers, is a subsidiary of Tata Communications. Through its subsidiary Tyco Global Network, it is also one of the world's largest submarine cable bandwidth providers and has the world's largest network of submarine cables. Other subsidiaries of Tata Communications include VSNL International Canada, formerly known as Teleglobe while it is the majority share-holder of Neotel, South Africa's second-largest cellular operator.

In 1986, VSNL was formed as a Government of India-owned company and 1996, Tata Teleservices was established. In 2000, Tata Group acquired controlling stake in VSNL which was later expanded to 46%. In 2007, VSNL was renamed as Tata Communications which also included Tata Teleservices.

Currently, Tata:

• has 100% ownership in 3 cable systems (TGN-Atlantic, TGN-Pacific, TIC); both TGN cables operate at >1 Tbps lit capacity
• is a leading investor in 3 consortium' cable systems (SAT3/SAFE, SMW3, SMW4)
• fully/partially owns 206,356 km fiber cable around the world
• offers a wide range of services e.g. SDH/SONET, IP, GbE, Wavelength
• offers diverse redundancy and protection capabilities; greatest diversity to and within India

Additionally, they also prepare several new cable systems:

• TGN-IA (Intra Asia) - I have mentioned this several times ago
  
• TGN-EA (EurAsia)
• IMEWE
• SEACOM
• other ?

The last three (TGN-EA, IMEWE, SEACOM) connect among other Marseille and Mumbai. Are they really three different systems ??

Tata's Cables (Operational / In Preparation); Source/Courtesy Tata