Telstra invests in two new subsea cable projects

Telstra has entered into agreements to invest in two new international subsea cable systems that will connect Hong Kong and the west coast of the United States.

The first investment will see Telstra partner to build the new Hong Kong Americas (HKA) cable that will connect Hong Kong and the U.S.

Telstra will invest in a half fibre pair.

Once completed, the HKA cable will help meet the increasing demand for connectivity between Greater China, South East Asia, and the US.

The second investment is in the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) that will also connect Hong Kong and the U.S.

Telstra says the investment is the equivalent of 6 Terabits per second (TBps).

David Burns, Telstra's group managing director of Global Services and International, says the investments reinforce Telstra's network leadership in the Asia Pacific region and represent a significant boost for connectivity between the United States and Asia.

"As economic growth continues in China and South East Asia, so too does the demand for data.

"Together with the current AAG cable on which Telstra carries the most traffic today, these two investments will provide us with increased capacity across the important Hong Kong to US route, one of the fastest growing routes in the world for capacity demand," adds Burns.

According to Telstra, the two cables will deliver lower latency due to being more direct routes between the US and Asia than the current Asia-America Gateway (AAG) on which the company operates the most active capacity today.

"Our investment in capacity on PLCN and HKA will also provide our customers with greater resiliency due to bypassing areas prone to natural disasters and offering two direct, alternative paths to the AAG cable which connects South East Asia to the US west coast via Hong Kong, Guam and Hawaii.

"We will continue to invest to maintain our network leadership and support our international growth.

"This includes a commitment to investing in additional capacity on the Australia to US route."

In April last year, Telstra entered into a consortium to build INDIGO, a new subsea cable system between Australia and South East Asia.

The HKA cable is expected to be completed in 2020 and PLCN in 2019.