Subsea Cables & Internet Infrastructure

- 2Africa is much more expensive than Equiano. The 2Africa 100G pricing is $25K and above excluding tails for Lisbon to Lagos. In contrast, Equiano 100G pricing is below $20K now. Similarly, Equiano 10G pricing gravitates around $5K versus $10K on the same route for 2Africa.  The reason for this disparity is that the 144 Tbps Equiano cable primarily serves South Africa, Portugal, and Nigeria. In contrast, the 180 Tbps 2Africa network serves over 30 countries and Facebook kept 4 of the 16 pairs for itself. Note that the 2Africa map does not include the Pearls extension of 2Africa to the Persian Gulf, Pakistan, and Mumbai.  Another sign of the impending capacity crunch is the unwillingness of 2Africa consortium members to sell IRUs. An IRU is a long term capacity sale ranging typically dffrom 10 years to life of system. Carriers will not sell IRUs if they expect future capacity shortages or think they are likely. Many of these carriers have transit backbones that they must keep ...

The eight fibre pair ADC system went live in November of last year. Its design capacity is slightly above 160 Tbps. Consortium members and large capacity owners include China Telecom, China Unicom, PLDT (the Philippine incumbent), Singtel, Softbank, TATA, and Vietel. TATA owns a fibre pair marketed under its own brand, TGN-IA2. NEC built the Asia Direct Cable. ADC 100G pricing for the Singapore to Tokyo route varies from $13.5K to $18.5K MRC on three year contracts. If you wish to avoid Chinese carriers, yet enjoy competitive pricing, TATA is a good choice. By a Chinese carrier I mean a network licensed to operate in mainland China and hence subject to its national security laws. These laws dictate that Chinese operators must cooperate with Chinese national security agencies. That's a big problem. In contrast, as just one example, Apple refused to cooperate with the FBI on unlocking a phone in an investigation. So there is a clear difference between China and the Wes...

The conflict between China and the West is exacerbating bandwidth shortages on key routes like Marseille to Singapore. AAE1 is maxed out just like SWM5. Both will be upgraded this year, but I believe all the incremental capacity will be snatched up even before upgrades are finished and the capacity delivered to customers. Furthermore, China Unicom is the lead AAE1 consortium member with China Mobile also selling capacity on the system. Avoiding carriers incorporated in China makes intercontinental capacity shopping is an excruciating exercise. I've been seeking Express AAE1 100G for almost a year for clients for whom China is a red line. Bandwidth sourcing has become a marathon. 😄 In light of this, I recommend buyers consider Peace despite the fact that it is a Chinese financed project. Encryption does work. It will not protect the IP overhead, which include the IP addresses, but the data payload itself will remain safe. Moreover, there are Peace providers such as PCCW or TELIN t...

AAE1; 100G; Frankfurt/Singapore; 139 ms RTD; $25K MRC; 2 Years; No NRC. Peace; 100G; Marseille/Singapore; 135 ms RTD; $20K MRC; 2 Years, $0 NRC. Peace; 100G; Mombasa/Singapore; $38K MRC; 3 Years ADC; 100G; Tokyo DC/SG1-SG3; 66 ms RTD; $13,500 MRC; 1 Year; $0 NRC.

A point: MRS1; Z point: SG1; Express Route; $31.5K MRC; 1 Year. Target RFS Date : Mid of June, 2025

 1. APG Cable; 100G; Hong Kong/Singapore; $8500 MRC; 1 Year. 2. ADC; 100G; Tokyo/Singapore; $13,850 MRC; 1 Year. 3. ASE; 100G; Tokyo/Singapore; $18,000 MRC; 1 Year. 4. ASE; 100G; HK/Tokyo; $8,500 MRC; 1 Year. 5. ASE; 100G; HK/Singapore; $5500 MRC; 1 Year Remarks: Customers responsible for cross connects. Pricing is the same whether from CLS to CLS or carrier neutral POP to carrier neutral POP.