Leighton Contractors plans new Perth Singapore cable

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 10 May 2011 11:28

IT Industry - Development

Leighton Contractors' subsidiary Australia-Singapore Cable (International) (ASC) has announced plans to build a fibre optic cable between Perth and Singapore.

ASC said it had "signed a contract with Alcatel Lucent." However it has yet to commit to the project. According to ASC: "The first phase of the project involving detailed design, route survey and permitting in Australia, Indonesia and Singapore is already underway. The second phase - subject to permitting requirements and final board approval - involves the construction of the cable system and is expected to start in the first quarter 2012 and commercial operation is planned for 2013

ASC chairman, Peter McGrath said: "We have strong support from our key supplier Alcatel Lucent who will design, construct and install the submarine cable system.

The 4,800km system will link Australia to Singapore, through the Sunda Strait in Indonesia providing potential for the first 100Gbps per wavelength high-speed connection from Western Australia to South East Asia.

McGrath - also executive general manager of Leighton Telecommunications - said "This new cable system will fill the much needed gap in the market place connecting Australia via the Indian Ocean to Singapore and offering a more cost effective, higher capacity and lower latency route than alternative east coast routes.

"The wet segment will terminate in Perth, Western Australia at a new Metronode Data Centre at Shenton Park. From Perth, traffic will be transported across [Leighton subsidiary] NextGen Network's highly complementary terrestrial network to Sydney, providing competitive international wholesale services from both Australia's east and west coasts to Singapore. Importantly this will enable end to end services from Singapore to Sydney, at 10Gbps, 40Gbps and eventually 100Gbps speeds."