Indigo subsea cable expected to help meet demand for connectivity services across Asia
The Indigo subsea cable system between Southeast Asia and Australia has been commissioned and is now ready to use.
Completed on-schedule, the system is now ready to be deployed by consortium members, consisting of AARNet, Google, Indosat Ooredoo, Singtel, SubPartners and Telstra.
The total cable length spans 9,200km consisting of Indigo West (4,600km Singapore to Perth) and Indigo Central (4,600km Perth to Sydney) cables.
The cable will consist of new spectrum-sharing technology, with each consortium member able to independently leverage the system to upgrade networks and enable capacity increases on demand.
“As Southeast Asia and Australia become increasingly interconnected, a high-speed and robust connectivity infrastructure plays a critical role in catalysing the development of digital economies across the regions,” said Ooi Seng Keat, vice president of Carrier Services, Group Enterprise, Singtel.
“The completion of Indigo will accelerate the roll-out of next-generation technologies that rely on low latency and high-bandwidth connectivity such as high-definition video, autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things and robotics applications.
“This will bring us closer to realising the benefits of a hyper-connected future and allow us to enhance our services to Singtel and Optus customers, reinforcing our position as the leading provider of international data services in the region."
The new cable will provide key benefits to the region including lower latency and more reliable communication services between Southeast Asia and Australia.
In addition, the cable can support up to 36 terabits per second using current coherent optical technology, the equivalent of simultaneously streaming millions of movies a second.
Given the current rise in digital connectivity across Asia, it is expected that by 2025 the bandwidth demand between Asia and Australia will reach 75Tbp. The Indigo subsea cable is expected to help meet such demand.
This milestone follows the announcement in April 2017 that the consortium had made an agreement with Alcatel Submarine Networks to build the system connecting Singapore, Perth and Sydney, with two additional fibre pairs connecting Singapore and Jakarta via a branching unit.
“Indosat Ooredoo is excited with the commissioning of Indigo,” said Dejan Kastelic, chief technology and information officer, Indosat Ooredoo.
“It will be diversifying our international connections across Australia and the fast-growing Southeast Asian market, serving demand increase of data traffic and expanding opportunities for our both customers, corporate and retail consumers.
“It supports our vision to become a leading digital telecommunications company by providing world class data connectivity and also to support Indonesia’s digital economy growth."
