Sunday, 20 January

by STF Today

This year, the SubOptic council was tapped to host and organize the Sunday morning submarine cable session.  Generally topics can range from maintenance to supply and theory to hard analysis in the submarine fiber markets.  SubOptic pulled together three relevant and complementing topics, beginning with an interview with Telecom Egypt's Mohammed Saro, followed by a panel of owners and maintenance suppliers, and rounding out the three hour session with a panel of system suppliers and owners.

During the first session, Richard Elliot, Managing Director at Apollo Cable Systems ltd., performed an exhaustive interview with Telecom Egypt's Director of International Customers and Networks, Mohammed Saro.  Elliot steered the conversation towards the political and governmental situation in Egypt, prompting Saro to express a number of assurances that Telecom Egypt has received from the new government.  Saro's overall message is one of optimism for the new assurances as well promised stability in the region.

The second session brought a panel of owners and maintenance operators together.  The general discussion expressed concern for an aging global fleet as well as over-stretching of already taxed resources, such as placement of ships in accident prone regions.  The panel also discussed a shift in maintenance proposals, specifically in the new requirements from owners in regard to specificity of agreements.

The third session highlighted a panel of system suppliers and system owners, particularly where they anticipated growth, change and the general well being of the global submarine fiber market.

All three sub-sessions were attended by a crowd of well over 100.