OREANDA-NEWS. December 22, 2011. NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) announced that it joined numerous other telecommunications carriers in Asia today in signing a contract for the construction and maintenance of the Asia Pacific Gateway (APG), an undersea cable network that is scheduled to launch by June 2014 with a total design capacity of 54.8 terabit-per-second (Tbps). The contract will become effective by March 2012.

The network initially will use the latest 40 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) wavelength technology and is designed to accommodate 100 Gbps wavelength technology for increasing efficiency and high-capacity.

The APG will connect most countries and regions of East Asia via landing sites in Korea, Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and others. Participating carriers besides NTT Com include Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), KT Corporation (Korea) and many others. The cabling route was chosen carefully to avoid damage from natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons.

Demands for international broadband communications are increasing among both enterprises and consumers in the Asian region, reflecting the ongoing expansion of markets and growing use of cloud services. Demands are also increasing for redundant networks that can help enterprises ensure business continuity by minimizing the effects on their communications due to network damage.

NTT Com continues to add new cable networks to provide customers in Asia with increasing capacity as well as greater redundancy for strengthened reliability. The company has participated in the construction of an undersea cable network, named the Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE), to enhance its provision of global network services and cloud services in the Asian region. The cable will be launched by June 2012 with 40 Gbps wavelength technology and the capability to incorporate 100 Gbps technology in the future.