Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN) and international telecommunications firm Pioneer Consulting have commenced construction on a 16,148-kilometer (10,033-mile) NEXT submarine cable network project designed to connect Australia, New Zealand and California.
The cable system will also include spurs to Fiji, Tokelau and Kiribati.
Pioneer has assisted with the project since its conception, providing market analysis and consulting on the overall design. The firm also assisted with procurement, survey, permitting, and contracting activities and will continue to provide support throughout the implementation period.
Upon completion, Southern Cross NEXT will be the largest capacity link to provide data-center connectivity between Sydney, Auckland and Los Angeles. The network will be the lowest latency path from Australia and New Zealand to the United States.
According to Data Economy, the project is the result of a network investment of around $300 million by Southern Cross, and is designed to carry 72 terabits per second of traffic.
The new cable is an extension of the existing Southern Cross two-cable ecosystem, which comprises two submarine cables that provide Australasian broadband users with high-speed, resilient international connections to the U.S. West Coast.
The project is expected to be ready for service in first quarter 2022.
