ASC System Operating at 50% More Capacity, Says Vocus

By Sam Varghese, ITWire
July 12, 2019

The Vocus Group says its Australian Singapore Cable system is now operating with a total capacity of 60Tbps, 50% more capacity than when it launched.

The ASC system was switched on in September 2018, nine days ahead of its scheduled opening, because of a major disruption on the Sea-Me-We3 submarine cable between Perth and Singapore.

It has four fibre pairs offering different connection points on its 4600-km run from Perth and Singapore and also extends to Christmas Island and Indonesia.

A statement from Vocus said apart from the increased end-to-end capacity, the Singapore to Indonesia leg had a capacity of up to 44Tbps while the Perth to Indonesia connection had 33Tbps.

Vocus chief executive, Wholesale, Mark Callander, said with the Asia Pacific region continuing to be the epicentre of global growth, the ASC would provide valuable opportunities for governments, businesses and consumers for years to come.

“The ASC is a perfect example of how secure, reliable, high speed, high performance networks are amongst the most critical pieces of infrastructure in our world today,” he said.

“Businesses around the world, and particularly in Asia Pacific, are well attuned to this, which has resulted in strong demand for ASC.

“Since launch, we have nearly sold 10 times the entire capacity of the Sea-Me-We3 cable system on ASC. Based on the current demand, we expect to see capacity on ASC exceed 4Tbps within the first 12 months of launch, and there is increasing demand across all paths to the west.”

Callander said the ASC also meant Vocus could make further strategic investments in its fibre network.

“The ASC provides valuable future options, such as a connection to our existing North West Cable system that extends from Port Headland to Darwin, servicing Australia’s oil and gas and mining sectors,” he said.