JGA North cable system completed

RTI and NEC have jointly announced the completion of the Japan-Guam-Australia North Cable System (JGA North).

JGA North is approximately 2,700 kilometres in length and lands in Minami-Boso, Japan and Piti, Guam.

The cable has an initial design capacity of 24 Tbps minimum, increasing further to 30 Tbps in the coming year.

JGA North seamlessly interconnects with Japan-Guam-Australia South (JGA South) in Guam.

As a result, it extends the cable’s reach to both Sydney’s Central Business District and Australia’s Sunshine Coast.

The last cable between Japan and Australia came into service more than 20 years ago.

“JGA North’s on-time and under budget completion is an extraordinary milestone to achieve in the current environment.

“At sea and on the ground, subsea cable experts were relentless in solving incredibly complex issues ranging from workplace safety to supply chain management.

“RTI is extremely grateful for the selfless contributions from so many of our friends around the globe – and especially for the engineers, marine crew, GTA’s local personnel, and NEC’s installation team.

“Working together under pressure, they delivered JGA North’s exceptional outcome, making it very clear: money doesn’t get cables built, relationships do.”

JGA North, JGA South, and SEA-US intersect in Guam.

Combined, their design capacity exceeds 90 Tbps.

Atsushi Kuwahara, general manager of NEC’s Submarine Network Division, also said:

“NEC is proud that we successfully completed this project in such a rapid timeframe.

“The construction of every submarine cable system presents a unique set of challenges, and the building of JGA was not immune to this.

“But by closely cooperating with RTI, we overcame tremendous obstacles and successfully completed JGA North on-time.

“Fast and reliable connectivity to the Internet is essential for everyone, and NEC will continue to contribute to the expansion of connectivity for society.”

JGA North was manufactured and built by NEC, and was funded by proceeds from Japanese financial institutions.

JGA South, in service since March 2020, has seen NEC and Alcatel Submarine Network (ASN) partner on the delivery.

Both JGA North and JGA South will interconnect at GNC – RTI’s neutral cable landing station and data centre on Guam.