Delaware, the operator of the Southern Cross Cable Network in the USA (Southern Cross), confirmed the landing of the 15,857km SX NEXT cable system that connects to Sydney and Auckland with branches linking Fiji, Tokelau, and Kiribati.
“The completion of NEXT will interconnect Oceania to the key content centres in the USA and is a significant technical achievement marking arguably the longest single span submarine cable segment ever achieved to date,” said Laurie Miller, CEO of Southern Cross.
“This enhancement of the Southern Cross network will allow us to continue to evolve and provide resilient high-capacity connectivity solutions to key markets in the USA.”
The $350 million Southern Cross NEXT cable project is due to complete in early 2022 and will deliver 72Tbps of capacity and create the largest and lowest-latency subsea cable system built between Sydney and Los Angeles.
“We’re proud to bring a full suite of Pioneer’s services to this project, to reach this tremendous milestone, and to have collaborated with Southern Cross to achieve unprecedented connectivity across the Pacific,” said Gavin Tully, managing partner of Pioneer Consulting.
"Multiple countries along the route will benefit from the fastest, most reliable broadband access ever to be available to them. Southern Cross NEXT paves the way for wider utilisation of 5G and IoT, and Pioneer is honoured to have played a role in this pivotal project.”
For its part, Pioneer Consulting served as shipboard representatives on the project, supervising cable loading, freighter transfer, laying operations, post-lay inspection and burial, and shore-end landings.
Additionally, Pioneer Consulting also provides Southern Cross a senior consulting service, which includes market analysis, survey oversight, route engineering, turn-key procurement and contract review, contractor coordination, COVID-19 risk analysis, project management, manufacturing audits, and quality assurance.
