The Subsea Fibre Optic Cable Class of 2027: Apricot

Apricot is one of the most exciting Southeastern Asian cable projects to be RFS next year. In fact, it is the first subsea network to be truly physically diverse from the South China Sea. The 12 fibre pair main trunk's end points are Singapore and Tokyo, but the path completely bypasses the South China Sea by detouring through Indonesia and up the Philippines' East Coast. This increases latency, but makes Apricot the natural complement for any cable system like ADC or SJC2 that goes through the South China Sea.

Obviously the latency is higher than the usual suspects, but most buyers need resilient networks to keep their jobs. Apricot lands in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Guam, and Japan. The cable system has military value as it links Taiwan to the Guam, the latter being the US military command center for the Western Pacific. Its routing around the South China Sea also makes it less vulnerable to sabotage.

Design capacity was originally intended to be 211 Tbps, but Indonesian permitting delays in the project led to the owners be able to select more powerful DWDM equipment. So the nameplate capacity is now 290 Tbps or a hefty 24 Tbps per fibre pair. These high throughputs are rarely seen in a spatial division multiplexing cable. Consortium owners include Google, Facebook, PLDT, Chunghawa Telecom, and NTT. 

This is undoubtedly a relatively expensive cable project. It threads through shallow Indonesian waters where deep burial is mandatory. Its route is also longer because it bypasses the South China Sea. Capacity pricing and availability are highly uncertain because it depends on how Google and META keep for themselves. Recent history suggests the hyperscalers will keep as much as 80% for their own needs.

Map of the Subsea Fiber Optic Apricot Cable


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