AT&T today announced plans to invest $1 billion in 2008, some 33 percent more than last year’s enterprise investment and more than double AT&T’s investment in 2006.
In 2008 AT&T plans to invest in a new subsea fiber optic cable capacity to Japan and Asia, increasing diversity and reliability on these critical routes. This would include increased investments in multiple under sea cable systems into South East Asia and Australia, investment in several subsea cable system upgrades to significantly grow capacity on multiples routes.
Those include the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, as well as subsea investments on existing cables servicing India and the Middle East. These subsea investments will be used to extend AT&T’s intelligent optical network into Europe and Asia with optical mesh restoration.
New core MPLS routers in Europe, Asia and the U.S. are also planned. The expansion of new or additional MPLS based IP network access nodes is planned for Europe (Paris, Moscow), the Middle East (Kuwait), India (New Delhi, Kolkata), Japan, Asia (Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore), and Central America (Guatemala).
Other recent submarine cable systems announcements include:
- Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) announced an agreement with five international telecommunications carriers last month to build a ultra high-speed cable system worth $300 million (see DW: Google: Now it’s Transpacific Fiber). The submarine system, named Unity, will link the United States to Japan across 10,000 km (6,200 miles).
- Verizon Business has gained final FCC approval to activate and operate a trans-Pacific cable system that directly links the United States with mainland China. The cable will stretch 11,000 miles from Nedonna Beach, Oregon, to Qingdao and Chongming in China, and will have landings in Tanshui, Taiwan, and Keoje, South Korea.
- Alaska Communications Systems will invest $95 million in a fiber optic cable from Alaska to Oregon, according to company president Liane Pelletier. The system, which lands in the seaside town of Florence, will have an ultimate capacity to transmit 64, 10 Gigabit wavelengths on each of the 4 fiber pairs for a total potential bandwidth of nearly 2.6 Terabits.
By the end of 2007, 25 oceanic fiber contracts totaling 112,000 route-kilometers were awarded.
Related DailyWireless articles include; Mediterranean Submarine Cables Cut, Fifth Submarine Cable Damaged, Fiber Crosses the Pond, Verizon’s TransPacific Express and Google: Now it’s Transpacific Fiber.
