Fresh off the RFS of the Hawaiki subsea cable, Australia will soon have even more new connectivity at its disposal. According to Vocus, the laying of the 4600 kilometer Australia Singapore Cable is now complete.
The ASC cable system will connect Perth on the Australia's western coast with Singapore, with a stop at Christmas Island along the way.
The challenging buildout passes through the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, passing not so far from the volcano known as Krakatoa. The Alcatel Submarine Networks ship Ile de Re handled that leg of the journey, dredging deeper than normal to keep the cable safe from shipping activity.
When complete, the ASC cable and promises to slash some 30% off of the latency between Sydney and Singapore. All they need to do now is install the electronics and run some tests before announcing the RFS date.
Vocus took on the ASC cable project when it bought Nextgen Networks two years ago.
Source: https://www.telecomasia.net/content/vocus-alcatel-near-completion-asc-cable-rollout