Construction begins on the Japan-Guam-Australia Cable System

Construction has begun a 9,500km subsea cable connecting Japan and Australia, and travelling via Guam.

The consortium constructing the project is being led by RTI Connectivity, and also features Australia’s Academic and Research Network (AARNET) and Google, with Alcatel Submarine and NEC supplying.

The Japan-Guam-Australia Cable System (JGA) will have a capacity of more than 36Tbps and is anticipated to be operational by the final quarter of next year.

The JGA project aims to expand communication networks between Japan and Australia as well as Guam’s onboard connectivity.

“Hyperscale cloud providers and enterprise companies are fuelling exponential data-growth between Asia, Australia, and the United States,” commented Russ Matulich, CEO of RTI Connectivity.

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“These customers require alternative paths, enhanced quality of service, and cost-effective bandwidth solutions.”

“By adding JGA to our existing cable investments, RTI is well positioned to serve these massive data-growth needs.”

“JGA's unique design will also improve latency between Tokyo-Sydney, while greatly reducing provisioning timeframes.”

The cable will be construction in two sections, to be linked in Guam – JGA North and JGA South.

JGA North will be funded entirely by RTI Connectivity, whilst RGA South’s finances will be supplied by RTI Connectivity, Google, and AARNET.

The JGA cable will also connect with the SEA-US cable at Guam. The SEA-US cable is operated partly by RTI Connectivity.