The APG cable system will link nine countries and territories in Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.
The system's backers say that it has been conceived to meet demand for intra-Asia connectivity, particularly between south east Asia and north Asia, offering transmission speeds of 40Gbps.
"We firmly believe that once completed, APG will have a significant impact,” said Nobuyuki Yanaginuma, associate SVP at NEC. “NEC's state of the art advanced Digital Coherent 40G SLTE's and OADM Branching Units will contribute to the economies of Asia and surrounding countries."