Hawaiian Telcom takes part in 100G SEA-US submarine cable system

Hawaiian Telcom is joining a host of Asia Pacific and U.S.-based service providers to establish the Southeast Asia--United States (SEA-US) consortium to build and operate a trans-Pacific submarine cable system, connecting Indonesia, Philippines, Guam, Hawaii and California.

Set to go live by the end of 2016, the new SEA-US system is being built to accommodate the insatiable appetite for wireline and wireless Internet applications like video and online content in the Asia-Pacific region. A recent TeleGeography global bandwidth forecast revealed that trans-Pacific demand is expected to increase at a compounded annual rate of 33 percent between now and 2020.

The SEA-US cable system will deliver a 100G ultra-long system that will provide an initial 20 Terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity over about 15,000 km of fiber. Being one of the seven consortium partners, Hawaiian Telcom will invest about $25 million over the multi-year construction period for a fractional ownership in the system.

Other members of the consortium include P.T. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Telkom USA, Globe Telecom, GTI Corporation, Teleguam Holdings, LLC (GTA), and RAM Telecom International (RTI). 

While there has been an emergence of new Asia-Pacific cable systems in recent years, what's different about SEA-US is that it's located along an underserved trans-Pacific route and will be the first submarine cable directly connecting Indonesia and the United States. The new system will provide route diversity and allow customers to reduce risk due to natural disasters from typhoons, earthquakes and tsunamis.

Hawaiian Telcom said that investing in the SEA-US system will allow it "to efficiently meet its internal long-term trans-Pacific capacity needs, as demand for increased bandwidth continues to grow." 

For more:
- see the release

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