Vocus to build $US170m subsea cable

Vocus Communications appears set to deliver the Perth-to-Singapore subsea telecommunications cable after inking a construction agreement with French company Alcatel Submarine Networks.

Vocus and Nextgen Group formed a joint venture to develop plans to construct the $US170 million Australia Singapore Cable in November last year. Nextgen was acquired by Vocus in September.

Today, a ‘contract-in-force’ was executed with Alcatel for construction of the 4,600-kilometre submarine cable system, which will link Australia to Singapore and Indonesia.

The system will provide a minimum of 40 terabits per second of capacity from Western Australia to South-East Asia, with the capacity forecast to expand as technology improves over the years.

The cable is expected to take about 19 months to build, with completion targeted for August 2018.

It will have a minimum life of 25 years.

“ASC was a key strategic consideration in Vocus’s decision to purchase Nextgen, as it, in combination with Nextgen’s trans-Australian fibre network, creates fully interconnected, high capacity fibre network owned by Vocus from the east coast of Australia through to Singapore via Perth, with direct connectivity into Indonesia,” Vocus said in a statement.

“In combination with the Nextgen network, ASC delivers Vocus a unique competitive advantage which provides a platform to increase utilisation of both assets.”

Vocus shares were 0.4 per cent lower to $4.04 each at the close of trade.