Plans for a new cable system, which will directly connect Muscat, Oman, to Perth, Australia, have been announced. It will be called Oman Australia Cable (OAC).
Submarine cable infrastructure development specialist SUB.CO has selected Subcom, which designs, manufactures, deploys, maintains, and operates modern cable networks, to build the new international subsea cable system.
Once completed, the partners say, OAC will be the only express cable between continental Australia and EMEA, providing the first secure, diverse and low-latency route between the two continents. The route chosen for OAC means the system will avoid many of the issues being experienced by other cable systems building through the shallows of the Sunda Strait and the busy South China Sea. It will form part of what is called a new Great Southern Route between the continental US, Australia and EMEA.
The OAC cable system design is a three-fibre-pair system with an option to upgrade to four fibre pairs based on final demand. It will span approximately 9,700 km, with additional branching units designed to extend the system into Salalah, Oman's second-largest city, and Djibouti in the future.
SUB.CO cites recent investment from major cloud, network and data centre providers in the region as key reasons for selecting Muscat. Muscat has 15 submarine cables terminating today and will soon have a new Equinix facility being operated under a joint venture between leading global interconnection company Equinix and Omani integrated telecommunications services provider Omantel.
OAC is expected to commence manufacturing later this year and is scheduled to be completed by December 2021.
