The next speaker of the day is Steve Liddell, ASC Board Advisor.  He is speaking on the Australian Singapore cable and the reasons that it has become important.

One of the greatest reasons, says Liddell, is the growth of Australian traffic.  Unfortunately, the existing systems can't handle it, creating opportunities.  There are actually a number of factors that make Australia a great opportunity.

First off, there is old-gen organization that can't meet existing demand.  There is also a geographic imbalance, says Liddell.  This means that the amount of capacity going into only one side of the continent is vastly different from the other.  Meeting the demand in Australia could be a great chance, if handled right.

“You care about price, you care about capacity, and you care about reliability.”

“The key is getting across Australia.”  According to Liddell, one of the reasons that a cable to Singapore hasn't been done before, despite demand, is the difficulties of laying fiber across the length of Australia.

The second issue that has prevented such a project before is that it requires the cooperation of the Indonesian government, permits from which can be difficult to obtain.  “We have our permits, though.”

Lastly, as always, finance is a problem.  Still, again, this is a difficulty they've dealt with.  70 percent of the project is owned by the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan, a fund that reaches ten figures.

He concludes by basically saying that this cable is happening.  They have a binding agreement with XL Axiata as their Indonesian landing partner.  Terrestrial construction has been negotiated and the marine survey is complete.

“This project is a safe investment.”