The company has signed construction contracts for a new $100 million, 1,000km cable interconnecting its existing 4,600km Australia Singapore Cable (ASC) with its 2,100km North West Cable System (NWCS).
The new link will form the final piece of the Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable (DJSC), a $500 million system that spans Perth, Darwin, Port Hedland, Christmas Island, Indonesia and Singapore.
“The Territory is going digital – and there is so much opportunity for growth and jobs in this space. The Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable is a massive sign of confidence in the Top End as an international provider for connectivity and digital industries," said Michael Gunner, chief minister of the Northern Territory.
“This further cements Darwin as Northern Australia’s most advanced digital economy, and will open the door to new opportunities for advanced manufacturing, data-centres and cloud-based computing services for Territorians and investors.”
Once completed in 2023, the DJSC will deliver 40Tbps capacity between Australia and Asia, specifically the ASC which spans Perth and Singapore and the NWCS which connects Port Hedland and Darwin in Western Australian.
In addition, the new system will also interconnect with Vocus’ Project Horizon fibre from Perth to Port Hedland, which is currently underway. Once completed the network will deliver much-needed redundancy and reliability for Vocus customers in the Pilbara region and Australia’s North and West.
“Submarine cables are vital infrastructure, connecting Australia to the rest of the world," said Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP.
"This new international cable landing in Darwin will provide more capacity and additional redundancy for Australia, and I welcome this investment from Vocus.”
The news follows the completion of the ‘Terabit Territory’ project with the Northern Territory Government, which saw Vocus deploy 200Gbps technology on its domestic fibre network into Darwin.
As a result, Vocus’ Darwin fibre routes now have 20Tbps of capacity, scalable to deliver up to 480Tbps of total capacity – with a future upgrade deliver 400Gbps technology also possible.
“We’ve delivered Terabit Territory – a 25-times increase in capacity into Darwin. We’ve delivered a submarine cable from Darwin to the Tiwi Islands," added Kevin Russell (pictured), group managing director and CEO of Vocus
"We’re progressing Project Horizon – a new 2,000km fibre connection from Perth to Port Hedland and onto Darwin. And today we’ve announced the Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable, the first international submarine connection into Darwin."
