Cable Map

If you have been following this blog, you know that I am interested in gathering information about undersea cables (especially costs and capacities). Some sites, like Thus, I found this site interesting, as it contains a comprehensive, clickable map. The sidebar contains links to each cable's home page, so it would be relatively straight-forward to gather comprehensive cable data.

Also, if you're interested, I found this article over at Amazon that is related.

Transatlantic telecom capacity

You might find this item from GigaOm interesting. If this projection is correct, we will almost certainly be paying more for transatlantic capacity.

Asia-Pacific Gateway fiber cable

Following my interest in collecting information on undersea fiber cables, here is the latest installment, the Asia-Pacific Gateway. According to the article,

Targeted to be ready for service in 2011, the 8,000 kilometer network with a minimum design capacity of four terabits per-second ... the proposed fiber optic network will offer alternative communication routes and nodes. In the event of accidents or subsea earthquakes, it will minimize the impact of a breakdown in services provided by existing regional fiber optic network ...

The APG network will connect Japan, Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The signatories to the agreement for the development of the gateway are China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, NTT Communication (Japan), Vietnam Post and Telecommunications (VNPT), Korea Telecom (KT), Philippines Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and Telekom Malaysia. The telcos will jointly finance and own the APG network.

New Undersea cable for Google

I have been posting regularly about undersea cables and also about Google's transmission capabilities. This item combines both. As we consider incentives and motivations, why would Google, an information provider, invest in infrastructure the way that they do?

Fiber optic cables and economic shifts

This article from BusinessWeek is interesting. In the article, long time tech industry observer Om Malik, argues that, like roads, an infrastructure of fiber optic cables opens the doors to growth and investment (although it certainly is no guarantee of that). Thomas Friedman lays out this case in more detail in The World is Flat.

So, an important question is, given the relatively poor teledensity of Africa, why would these large investments be made to provide connectivity there?

How to construct an undersea cable

In keeping with one of the themes on this blog, you might find this site interesting. You will find a lot of details on what goes into the construction of an undersea cable, along with photos and a detailed progress chart.

Photo essay on laying undersea cable

You might find this item over at CNET interesting. It is a photo essay on how undersea cables are laid.

Google and others to build submarine cable

I found this item interesting, in light of the ongoing posts on submarine cables and in light of Google's emerging business model. Quoting the article:

Google and the five telecoms companies said in joint statement that the 10,000 km (6,200 mile) undersea fiber optic cable, connecting the United States to Japan, will cost $300 million.

Google's partners in the consortium, dubbed Unity, comprises Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI Corp, Pacnet, and Singapore Telecommunications.

The cable will provide much-needed capacity to sustain unprecedented growth in data and Internet traffic between Asia and the United States.

The consortium said it has picked NEC Corporation and Tyco Telecommunications to construct and install the system, which is expected to be ready for service in the first quarter of 2010.

The cost per kilometer of this cable is approximately US$30,000.

What is also interesting to me is that it continues to mark Google's engagement in carriage. Do you view this as a long term contract to assure supply (like one might do in a futures market)? This, by the way, is what Google implied in this statement. Or, do you view this as a part of a continuing effort at Google to build an integrated information utility?

Undersea cable for Africa (TEAMS)

In following up to this item, you might be interested in this article, which is relatively rich in cost information. By the way, this site has information on other cable projects as well. Some tidbits for the TEAMS project:

• The project will involve the construction of a 4,887-km submarine telecoms cable linking the Kenyan coast with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The project will cost an estimated $110-million (or US$22,500/km). The cable has an expected lifetime of 25 years.
  
• 
  
• "Capacity will be allocated at cost with TEAMs investors paying $400,000 per STM1 per year. This translates to $2580.645 per megabit per year up to Fujairah and $ 215.00 megabit per month."
  
• "TEAMs shareholders are expected to operate on an Internal Rate of Return of 32.71 per cent with a pay back of 2.4 years."
  
• "Transit costs from Fujairah to Europe and US stands at between $55,000 to $100,000 per year"
  
  

The cost is considerably below the estimated US$70,000/km for the Guyana project ... why might this be the case?

Undersea Cable to Serve South America

Since the topic of undersea cables came up in class recently, you might find this item briefly describing a cable project between Guyana and Trinidad of interest. I think what is most useful are the cost and schedule details. Quoting the article:

Atlantic Tele-Network Inc., based in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Salem, Mass., expects to invest $35 million in the new cable, which will provide improved service to Guyana, Suriname and Brazil, the company said. It is expected to be completed in 2009. The region is currently served by an undersea cable between Florida and French Guiana, but many people in the region complain of slow Internet service and difficulty making international calls.

The distance covered by the cable is approximately 500km, so this project is estimated to cost US$70,000/km. How does this compare to other published cable costs?