With insatiable bandwidth needs, the cloud funds subsea cable systems as operators of hyper-scale cloud platforms (Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft) are more involved than ever in the building of long-haul subsea cable systems. Their need for bandwidth is growing so rapidly that it makes more and more economic sense for these players to invest in their own infrastructure, whether entire subsea cables or fiber pairs in cables built with co-investors with similar connectivity needs and operational philosophy.
In a previous post (see here – December 2016), we briefly reviewed, for each of these new players, the subsea cable systems they were involved in. While demand for bandwidth is more and more shifting from traditional telecommunications companies to large content providers, this new post lists, for all the relevant subsea cable systems, the Internet Content Providers (ICPs) who are publicly customers, investors or owners of these systems. Some high-level data (like hyper-scale cloud user(s), RFS date, owner(s) and supplier) is provided for each of these subsea cable systems, showing how the cloud funds subsea cable systems today; this role was played in the past by telcos.
Note: The subsea cable systems are listed below in the chronological order of their Ready for Service (RFS) date. Data and maps are courtesy of the telecommunications market research and consulting firm TeleGeography.
Unity/EAC-Pacific
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Google
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: March 2010
- Cable length: 9,620 km
- Owners: Telstra, Google, Global Transit, SingTel, KDDI, Airtel (Bharti)
- Supplier: NEC
- Notes: Unity is jointly owned by a consortium of six companies. Telstra owns two fiber pairs that the company refers to as EAC-Pacific. The remaining three fiber pairs are jointly owned by the other consortium members.
- Landing sites:
- Chikura, Japan
- Redondo Beach, California, United States
Southeast Asia Japan Cable (SJC)
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Google
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: June 2013
- Cable length: 8,900 km
- Owners: Globe Telecom, Google, KDDI, Telkom Indonesia, SingTel, China Telecom, TOT, China Mobile, Chunghwa Telecom, Brunei International Gateway, SingTel Optus, Airtel (Bharti)
- Supplier: NEC
- Landing sites:
- Chikura, Japan
- Chung Hom Kok, Hong Kong
- Nasugbu, Philippines
- Shantou, China
- Songkhla, Thailand
- Telisai, Brunei
- Tuas, Singapore
GTT Express (former Hibernia Express)
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Microsoft
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: September 2015
- Cable length: 4,600 km
- Owners: GTT
- Supplier: TE SubCom
- Landing sites:
- Brean, United Kingdom
- Cork, Ireland
- Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
AEConnect (AEC)
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Microsoft
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: January 2016
- Cable length: 5,536 km
- Owners: Aqua Comms
- Supplier: TE SubCom
- Landing sites:
- Killala, Ireland
- Shirley, New York, United States
FASTER
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Google
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: June 2016
- Cable length: 11,629 km
- Owners: Google, KDDI, SingTel, China Telecom, China Mobile, Global Transit
- Supplier: NEC
- Landing sites:
- Bandon, Oregon, United States
- Chikura, Japan
- Shima, Japan
- Tanshui, Taiwan
Asia Pacific Gateway (APG)
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Facebook
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: November 2016
- Cable length: 10,400 km
- Owners: NTT, China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, KT, Starhub, LG Uplus, China Mobile, Viettel Corporation, Vietnam Telecom International, Global Transit, Facebook
- Supplier: NEC
- Landing sites:
- Chongming, China
- Danang, Vietnam
- Kuantan, Malaysia
- Maruyama, Japan
- Nanhui, China
- Pusan, Korea, Rep.
- Shima, Japan
- Songkhla, Thailand
- Tanah Merah, Singapore
- Toucheng, Taiwan
- Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong
Seabras-1 (Seaborn Networks)
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Microsoft
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: June 2017
- Cable length: 10,800 km
- Owners: Seaborn
- Supplier: ASN
- Landing sites:
- Praia Grande, Brazil
- Wall Township, New Jersey, United States
Monet
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Google
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: Q3 2017
- Cable length: 10,556 km
- Owners: Angola Cables, Google, Algar Telecom, Antel Uruguay
- Supplier: TE SubCom
- Landing sites:
- Boca Raton, Florida, United States
- Fortaleza, Brazil
- Santos, Brazil
Tannat
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Google
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: Q4 2017
- Cable length: 2,000 km
- Owners: Google, Antel Uruguay
- Supplier: ASN
- Landing sites:
- Maldonado, Uruguay
- Santos, Brazil
New Cross Pacific (NCP) Cable System
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Microsoft
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: 2018
- Cable length: 13,618 km
- Owners: China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, KT, China Mobile, Microsoft, Softbank Telecom
- Supplier: TE SubCom
- Landing sites:
- Chongming, China
- Lingang, China
- Maruyama, Japan
- Nanhui, China
- Pacific City, OR, United States
- Pusan, Korea, Rep.
- Toucheng, Taiwan
MAREA
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Facebook, Microsoft
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: Q1 2018
- Cable length: 6,600 km
- Owners: Facebook, Microsoft, Telefonica
- Supplier: TE SubCom
- Landing sites:
- Bilbao, Spain
- Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN)
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Google, Facebook
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: May 2018
- Cable length: 12,800 km
- Owners: Pacific Light Data Communication Co. Ltd., Google, Facebook
- Supplier: TE SubCom
- Landing sites:
- Manhattan Beach, California, United States
- Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong
Hawaiki Cable
- Hyper-scale cloud user(s): Amazon Web Services
- Ready for Service (RFS) date: June 2018
- Cable length: 10,200 km
- Owners: Hawaiki Cable Company
- Supplier: TE SubCom
- Landing sites:
- Kapolei, Hawaii, United States
- Mangawhai, New Zealand
- Pacific City, Oregon, United States
- Pago Pago, American Samoa
- Sydney, Australia
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