SubTel Forum Magazine #125 - Regional Systems

SUBMARINE TELECOMS

FORUM ISSUE 125 | JULY 2022

REGIONAL SYSTEMS

FEATURING: HIGH-CAPACITY CABLE MANUFACTURERS

EXORIDUM FROM THE PUBLISHER WELCOME TO ISSUE 125, OUR REGIONAL SYSTEMS EDITION, FEATURING HIGH-CAPACITY CABLE MANUFACTURERS! IF IT’S JULY IT MUST MEAN LE TOUR…

I

t’s been a little difficult in the office recently, balancing various meetings with a surprise break in the Peloton, a crash, or one of many point sprints.

Jumping from the desk or conference table to view the television in the break room can be hazardous as well as a little disconcerting to others who find themselves mistakenly in the way.

By now, thankfully, most have figured out that if it’s July it means the Tour de France is on. Somewhere deep in my employment contract there must be words that say something like, “except for 3 weeks in July” or some such. Whether its age or position or just obstinance, I am only half engaged in the business at hand, as I have an ear on other important cycling matters from across the pond!

Especially now it is really important to have normality.

The world we knew has changed and is changing at breathtaking speeds. For good or worse? I’ll let the historians decide.

In my own case Peg and I are blowing the dust off our passports and returning to our village in County Hampshire’s New Forest next month. It is a great first step of many planned to re-engaging with our world and we could not be happier.

ONLINE MAP OVERHAUL

But in spite of my seasonal preoccupations, we have also been a little bit busy over the last few months. We decided to take a hard look at our online map and decided to accomplish a number of upgrades.

As such, our map zooms in farther to

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give you a better picture of where the landing is, and we track latitude/longitude as accurately as possible. Vessel data is updated every 6 hours and users can now filter to see specific vessel history over time. More system data is available in the system viewer and users can drag and select multiple systems on the map. We also added an ability

A Publication of Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. www.subtelforum.com ISSN No. 1948-3031 PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER: Wayne Nielsen | wnielsen@subtelforum.com | [+1] (703) 444-2527 VICE PRESIDENT: Kristian Nielsen | knielsen@subtelforum.com | [+1] (703) 444-0845 SALES: Teri Jones | tjones@subtelforum.com | [+1] (703) 471-4902

to print or save a system(s) as pdf, as well as provided different options on ways to view the map, such as interactive 3D rendering, which we think provides an enhanced view of the world of cable. (https://subtelforum.com/submarine-cable-map/) We are pretty pleased with the result, and look forward to hearing from you about what you think of it.

THANKS TO AUTHORS AND ADVERTISERS

Thank you especially to the excellent Authors who have contributed to this edition! Thanks also for their support to this issue’s advertisers. Of course, our ever popular “where in the world are all those pesky cableships” is included as well.

Thank you as always to our readers and supporters for honoring us with your interest.

In a world full of Putins, be a Zelenskyy. #Ukraine STF Stay well,

PROJECT MANAGER: Rebecca Spence | rspence@subtelforum.com | [+1] (703) 268-9285 EDITOR: Stephen Nielsen | snielsen@subtelforum.com DESIGN & PRODUCTION: Weswen Design | wendy@weswendesign.com DEPARTMENT WRITERS: Kristian Nielsen, Philip Pilgrim, Rebecca Spence, Terri Jones, and Wayne Nielsen FEATURE WRITERS: Bill Burns, David Eurin, Derek Cassidy, Dixit Shah, Geoff Bennett, Glenn Hovermale, Glenn Maule, Greg Varisco, Hector Hernandez, Inger Gloersen Folkeson, Jean Devos, John Hibbard, Paul McCann, Ron Totton, Shaheen Qamar, Stephen Nielsen, and Stewart Ash NEXT ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 2022 – Offshore Energy, featuring Evolving Subsea Technologies AUTHOR & ARTICLE INDEX: www.subtelforum.com/onlineindex Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. www.subtelforum.com/corporate-information BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Margaret Nielsen, Wayne Nielsen and Kristian Nielsen SubTel Forum Continuing Education, Division of Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. www.subtelforum.com/education CONTINUING EDUCATION DIRECTOR: Kristian Nielsen | knielsen@subtelforum.com | [+1] (703) 444-0845

Wayne Nielsen, Publisher

Contributions are welcomed and should be forwarded to: pressroom@subtelforum.com.

Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine is published bimonthly by Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc., and is an independent commercial publication, serving as a freely accessible forum for professionals in industries connected with submarine optical fiber technologies and techniques. Submarine Telecoms Forum may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the permission of the publishers.

Liability: While every care is taken in preparation of this publication, the publishers cannot be held

responsible for the accuracy of the information herein, or any errors which may occur in advertising or editorial content, or any consequence arising from any errors or omissions, and the editor reserves the right to edit any advertising or editorial material submitted for publication.

New Subscriptions, Enquiries and Changes of Address: 21495 Ridgetop Circle, Suite 201, Sterling, Virginia 20166, USA, or call [+1] (703) 444-0845, fax [+1] (703) 349-5562, or visit www.subtelforum.com.

Copyright © 2022 Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc.

IN THIS FORUM ISSUE

SUBMARINE TELECOMS

ISSUE 125 | JULY 2022

features

20

7 QUESTIONS WITH INGER GLOERSEN FOLKESON

32

HOW TO FORGE AN AFRICAN PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICAN SUCCESS

By Dixit Shah

22

DEFINING HIGH CAPACITY

By Stephen Nielsen

34

KEEPING CONTINENTS CONNECTED

By Ron Totton

26

CONNECTING THE PACIFIC NATIONS

By John Hibbard & Paul McCann

37

MAXIMIZING CAPACITY AND DATA RATE ACROSS ALL TYPES OF SUBMARINE CABLES

By Geoff Bennett

4 SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE

42

THE HISTORY OF CABLE & WIRELESS

By Stewart Ash and Bill Burns

62

CONNECTING AFRICA’S POTENTIAL METRE

BY METRE, COUNTRY

BY COUNTRY

By Glenn Maule

50

CLIENT REPRESENTATION

By Hector Hernandez and Glenn Hovermale

64

SUBMARINE NETWORKS: AN EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE - PART 1

By Derek Cassidy

54

THE AFRICAN INTERNET CONNECTIVITY JOURNEY IS ON ITS PATH TO GLOBAL ECONOMIC SUCCESS

69

WHITE NOISE FROM THE SEA FLOOR

By Jean Devos

By David Eurin

56

GROOMING MIDDLE EAST CABLERS TO MEET ULTRA HIGH-SPEED FO CHALLENGES

By Greg Varisco and Shaheen Qamar

departments EXORDIUM....................................................................2 SUBTELFORUM.COM......................................................6 STF ANALYTICS..............................................................8 CABLE MAP UPDATE.................................................... 12 WHERE IN THE WORLD................................................ 14 SUSTAINABLE SUBSEA................................................. 16 BACK REFLECTION.......................................................72 ON THE MOVE..............................................................80 SUBMARINE CABLE NEWS NOW................................... 81 ADVERTISER CORNER..................................................82

SubTelForum.com

VisitSubTelForum.com SubTelForum.com to to find find links resources Visit linkstotothe thefollowing following resources

FREERESOURCES RESOURCESFOR FORALL ALLOUR OUR SUBTELFORUM.COM SUBTELFORUM.COM READERS FREE READERS The most popular articles, Q&As of 2021.

TOP OFyou 2019 FindSTORIES out what missed!

The most popular articles, Q&As of 2019. Find out what you NEWSmissed!

NOW RSS FEED Keep on top of our world of coverage with our free News NEWSdaily NOW industry RSS FEEDupdate. News Now is a daily RSS feed Now Keep on top of our world of coverage with our freehighNews of news applicable to the submarine cable industry, Now daily industry update.

News Now is a daily RSS&feed lighting Cable Faults & Maintenance, Conferences As-of news applicable to the submarine industry, highlighting sociations, Current Systems, Datacable Centers, Future Systems, Cable Faults & Maintenance, Associations, Offshore Energy, State of the Conferences Industry and&Technology & Current Systems, Data Centers, Future Systems, Offshore Upgrades.

Energy, State of the Industry and Technology & Upgrades.

PUBLICATIONS PUBLICATIONS Submarine Cable Almanac is a free quarterly publica-

Submarine Cablethrough Almanacdiligent is a freedata quarterly publication made available gathering and tion madeefforts available through diligent data gathering and mapping by the analysts at SubTel Forum Analytics,

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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE

a division of Submarine Telecoms Forum. This reference mapping analysts at SubTel Forum Analytics, tool givesefforts detailsby onthe cable systems including a system map, a division of Submarine Telecoms Forum.

This reference landing points, system capacity, length, RFS year and other tool givesdata. details on cable systems including a system map, valuable landing points,Telecoms system capacity, and free other Submarine Industrylength, ReportRFS is anyear annual valuable data. publication with analysis of data collected by the analysts of Submarine Report is an annualanalyfree SubTel ForumTelecoms Analytics,Industry including system capacity publication of data collected by the of analysts of sis, as well aswith the analysis actual productivity and outlook current SubTel Forum Analytics, including system capacity and planned systems and the companies that serviceanalythem. sis, as well as the actual productivity and outlook of current and planned CABLE MAP systems and the companies that service them.

The online SubTel Cable Map is built with the industry CABLE MAP standard Esri ArcGIS platform and linked to the SubTel The online SubTel Cable Map is built withthe theprogress industryof Forum Submarine Cable Database.

It tracks standard Esri ArcGIS platform and linked to the SubTel some 450+ current and planned cable systems, more than Forumlanding Submarine Cable It centers, tracks the of 1,200 points, overDatabase.

1,700 data 37 progress cable ships

as well as mobile subscriptions and internet accessibility data for 254 countries. Systems are also linked to SubTel Forum's News Now Feed, allowing viewing of current and archived news details.

The printed Cable Map is an annual publication showcasing the world's submarine fiber systems beautifully drawn on a large format map and mailed to SubTel Forum Readership and/or distributed during Pacific Telecommunications Conference in January each year.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

SubTel Forum designs educational courses and master classes that can then appear at industry conferences around the world. Classes are presented on a variety of topics dealing with key industry technical, business, or commercial issues.

See what classes SubTel Forum is accrediting in support of the next generation of leaders in our industry.

AUTHORS INDEX

The Authors Index is a reference source to help readers locate magazine articles and authors on various subjects.

SUBTEL FORUM BESPOKE REPORTS SubTel Forum provides industry analyses focused on a variety of topics. Our individualized reporting can provide industry insight for a perspective sale, business expansion or simply to assist in making solid business decisions and industry projections. We strive to make reporting easy to understand and keep the industry jargon to a minimum as we know not everyone who will see them are experts in submarine telecoms.

In the past we have provided analyses pertaining to a number of topics and are not limited to those listed below.

Reach out to info@subtelforum.com to learn more about our bespoke reports.

DATA CENTER & OTT PROVIDERS: Details the increasingly shrinking divide between the cable landing station and the backhaul to interconnection services in order to maximize network efficiency throughout, bringing once disparate infrastructure into a single facility.

If you are interested in the world of Data Centers and its impact on Submarine Cables, this reporting is for you.

GLOBAL CAPACITY PRICING: Details historic and current capacity pricing for regional routes (Transatlantic, Transpacific, Americas, Intra-Asia and EMEA), delivering a comprehensive look at the global capacity pricing status of the submarine fiber industry.

Capacity pricing trends and forecasting simplified.

GLOBAL OUTLOOK: Dive into the health and wellness of the global submarine telecoms market, with regional analysis and forecasting. This reporting gives an overview of planned systems, CIF and project completion rates, state of supplier activity and potential disruptive factors facing the market.

OFFSHORE ENERGY: Provides a detailed overview of the offshore oil & gas sector of the submarine fiber industry and covers system owners, system suppliers and various market trends. This reporting details how the industry is focusing on trends and new technologies to increase efficiency and automation as a key strategy to reduce cost and maintain margins, and its impact on the demand for new offshore fiber systems.

REGIONAL SYSTEMS: Drill down into the Regional Systems market, including focused analysis on the Transatlantic, Transpacific, EMEA, AustralAsia, Indian Ocean Pan-East Asian and Arctic regions. This reporting details the impact of increasing capacity demands on regional routes and contrasts potential overbuild concerns with the rapid pace of system development and the factors driving development demand.

SUBMARINE CABLE DATASET: Details more than 450 fiber optic cable systems, including physical aspects, cost, owners, suppliers, landings, financiers, component manufacturers, marine contractors, etc. STF

JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

7

ANALYTICS

BY REBECCA SPENCE

W

elcome back to the latest addition of SubTel Forum’s annual Regional System issue. This month we are focusing on high-capacity cables and how they are influencing capacity demands around the globe.

In this analytics article we will give a quick overview of capacity amounts stand to date as well as a quick look at the capacity of the next several years of planned systems. The data used for this article has been collected in the SubTel Forum Cable Database from the public domain.

THE NUMBERS AT PRESENT

In the last 5 years, the majority of new systems were implemented in AustralAsia, with a total of 36 percent of new systems accomplished in the region. Though close in percentage, EMEA has seen the second most significant increase with 24 percent of new systems, and the Americas received another 23 percent. (Figure 1) With a lull in 2019 and 2021, the Transpacific region has seen less overall activity but that has already changed for an upward trend with the addition of Southern Cross NEXT and multiple other Transpacific cables being implemented in 2022.

With relation to the amount of kilometers that have been installed, the last five years saw an average of 54.5 thousand kilometers globally per year. 2017 saw the most cable put into the water with a little shy of 111 thousand kilometers, and 2018 with 78 thousand kilometers. The amount of cable laid decreased over 50

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percent in 2019 to only 35 thousand kilometers but surprisingly began slowly rising again during the pandemic. In 2020 almost 44 thousand kilometers were installed and another 54 thousand were implemented in 2021. Historically this ebb and flow

is very typical in the submarine cable industry and is likely continue in the future. (Figure 2) While the number of kilometers installed has dropped during the past three years, Figure 1 indicates that the average number of new systems

implemented in that same time frame has stayed consistent. On average 18 systems a year have been put into service over the last five years.

What is coming Based on reported data for planned systems 43 percent of all new systems will take place in EMEA and Austral Asia. This comes as no surprise with the digital transformation that is happening in various parts of Africa.

Systems like 2Africa, Equiano, and the West Africa Cable are bringing significant amounts of capacity to the region and data centers have begun to step up to help spread the capacity throughout the continent.

Another 42 percent of growth will occur in the Americas, Indian Ocean, and Transpacific. As mentioned earlier in this article, several Transatlantic systems are scheduled to be in service in the next year bringing route diversity to a previously slow growing market.

Globally, capacity will more than double its current rates in the coming 5 years. While EMEA will increase 150 percent, the region projected to see the most capacity growth over the next 5 years is actually the Polar region which is projected to increase its capacity 400 percent.

Overall the high capacity systems that are coming down the pipeline will have siginificant affects on the industry as a whole. After surviving the pandemic and doing so in a positive manner, we can only hope the infustry will continue the upward trends seen in capacity and cable system growth. STF

REBECCA SPENCE is the Project Manager from Submarine Telecoms Forum. Rebecca possessed more than 10 years’ experience as an analyst and database manager, including for the small business division of prominent government contractor, General Dynamics IT.

She is a regular contributor to SubTel Forum Magazine and is based out of Hillsborough, North Carolina USA.

SUBTEL CABLE MAP UPDATES Figure 1: initial map view

T

he highly anticipated Submarine Cables of the World Online Map is now live! We have completely revamped the entire page and you are going to want to take a look. For starters the landing page has an exciting new view. An interactive 3D rendering of every system, in-service and planned, that SubTel Forum is actively tracking around the world. Our Esri powered 3D Submarine Cable Map really needs to be seen live, the image you see here really doesn’t do it justice.

When we first discussed revamping the SubTel Forum Online Cable Map, we thought long and hard about we wanted it to look like, but more importantly what capabilities our users wanted to see. We understand that our users cover a wide variety of industry niches, cable owners, vessel trackers, and data seekers. Our goal was not just to make it look new, it needed to exceed your expectations and needs. As you go through the new map you will see several elements that highlight the vast amounts of data we keep on the Submarine Cables around the world in addition to a plethora of brand new options.

After you have enter the Submarine Cables of the World Viewer, you will see the traditional 2D rendering as seen in

Figure 2: multiple system view

Figure 1. The righthand data column contains the full list of all 400+ active and 80+ planned systems in the SubTel Forum Submarine Cable Database.

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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE

Selecting an individual system will autofill the system details in the bottom portion of the data column with all the same pieces of information you have come to expect from our Submarine Cable Almanac.

Once selected, the map will also shift, highlighting only that system.

As a user you are also able to filter on a specific landing to see every cable that lands in that location. To switch to that option, simply select this button on the left menu bar and you will see the landings listen in the data column.

To view multiple systems at once, like in figure 3, click on the system names you wish to view. The map will clear all other systems, and the data column will allow you to toggle through the system details. To clear your selection, simply hit the Home button in the bottom right of the map, or the trash can in the data column.

A unique new feature seen in figures 3 and 4 allows you to select multiple systems by using the selection tool in the top left corner to drag and drop a box over an area you want to select. This will automatically highlight all of the cables that were in that box you created, and their details will populate in the data column.

OTHER FILTER AND FEATURES

• Filter by Companies that own them, or are associated • Filter by RFS date • Filter by Last updated date • Change basemap to fit your visual needs

Figure 3: selection tool to highlight multiple systems

Figure 4: view of the multiple systems highlighted

As SubTel Forum’s in house Cableship aficionado, my personal favorite new feature is the ability to see AIS tracking data for all of the vessels. The map still displays the current location of every vessel in the fleet along with the latest AIS tracking data; a dataset that updates every six JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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Basemap options you can choose to fit your visual needs

hours. But the newest feature seen in Figure 5 allows you as a user to filter on a single vessel and see the AIS history over the past 90 days.

The last feature I want to highlight today is one that our users have been eager to see on the online cable map for quite some time. The ability to download or print a view of the map has been added! Are you looking for a view of all the cables your company is associated with? Care to have an image of all the cables that cross the Atlantic? You can have it all! Our WYSIWYG approach gives users complete control over how they want the output to look by scaling, shifting, and positioning the map where you want it be. Click on the systems you would like to print or save, hit the details button and the print logo will appear on the map (Figure 6). From there, just move the map around and hit print preview. You will have the option to save as a PDF, or print per your computer and

Figure 5: cableship tracking

printer parameters. Over the next few weeks, you can look forward to series of walk through tutorials on our YouTube Channel, but I think you will get the hang of it right away.

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Figure 6: print preview dialogue box

Our goal is for the Online Submarine Cable Map to be your go-to place for submarine cable information. The data that feeds our map comes from the Submarine Cable Database that our analysis updated on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. It is all publicly available information, but we always want to make sure we are accurately portraying the data and welcome any updates you have for your system, your vessel, and any other data we track. So please do not hesitate to reach out if you see a system that needs to be updated or have any questions. Any of our analysts would be glad to assist, simply send a n email to info@subtelforum.com.

As with most of our products, we offer our entire Online Cable Map free through product sponsorship. If you’re interested in sponsoring the online cable map, we have set

up a page in our store with the details. The first 6 months of 2022 has seen over 10,000 users on the online map and that number is only going to grow now that the new version has launched. So, if you want to have your logo in front of thousands of eyes a year, now is the time!

If you haven’t already done so, head to the NEW Submarine Cables of the World Online Map and have some fun!

We really think you’re going to love it. STF REBECCA SPENCE is the Project Manager from Submarine Telecoms Forum. Rebecca possessed more than 10 years’ experience as an analyst and database manager, including for the small business division of prominent government contractor, General Dynamics IT. She is a regular contributor to SubTel Forum Magazine and is based out of Hillsborough, North Carolina USA.

JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE THOSE PESKY CABLESHIPS?

BY REBECCA SPENCE

B

efore you do anything else today, check out the new online cable map! Why you ask? Simple, we have completely revamped our map to showcase a much larger scope of the data we have worked so hard to collect over the last several years on the Submarine Cable Industry as a whole. I go into much more detail in the online map article on page 10 but it sure does feel like Christmas in July. My personal favorite feature is the ability to track the global cableship fleet in real-time AND to filter to see vessel history over time! Please go check it out for yourself, you’re going to love it.

Back to our regularly scheduled programing, the fleet sure has been busy the last two months. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) increased Figure 1: Ile de Re from 43 to 49 percent of reported activity since May. The Ile de Batz spent the entire analyzed timeframe in the EMEA region accomplishing the installation and landing of 2Africa in Berbera.

Accompanied in the region by the

Ile de Sein who landed Equiano in Sesimbra Portugal at the end of May. Austral Asia also saw a drastic increase in activity as it had 18 percent of vessel AIS reported in May, jumping to 38 percent over the last two months. Much of this activity from the Reliance who landed the Oman Australia Cable in Barka Oman at the beginning of May. The Americas has half as much activity dropping to 9 percent from 21 percent and the Indian Ocean region stayed steady at 9 percent. The small decline in activity in the Transpacific of 7 percent to 2 percent was expected as Southern Cross NEXT finished marine installation. Per their most recently announcement, SCN should be in service the week before this issue of SubTel Forum Magazine is published, so keep an eye out for that if it hasn’t happened already.

Figure 2: OMS Cable Vigilence

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Speaking of Southern Cross NEXT, after finishing her piece of the marine installation in May, the Ile De Re traveled to Singapore to dry dock where she has spent the last month and a half getting some much needed care. Image Credit goes to Steve Onley for posting this great picture of her out of the water!

The big news from France came on June 24, when Alcatel Submarine Networks inaugurated their new cable maintenance vessel the Ile de Molène. She will focus primarily on maintenance and repairs in the Atlantic and North Sea. I can’t wait to see what sister, the Ile de Sein, will look like when she is finished in a few months after her retrofit is finished. She will be utilized as a cable laying vessel, which is a much needed addition.

Another conversion in the works is happening currently at the Remontowa Shipyard in Poland. OMS is currently converting a new repair and cable laying vessel the Cable Vigilance. Per their LinkedIn post at the end of June, Seatech Engineering Ltd have already begun the work to retrofit the. The future specs describe her as “a fully equipped cable ship with integrated cable tanks, cable machinery, jointing

and testing rooms and has its own dedicated ROV and plough capabilities once completed.” It is so nice to see that the fleet is finally getting the growth focus it desperately needs.

This month’s favorite image goes to this night view of Global Marine’s Cable Retriever which spent the last two months sailing in the South China Sea. Photo credit goes to of Andy Caña for the great shot. It is always night to see these pictures shared as the vessels make their way around the world, please keep sharing them and connect with me on LinkedIn if you want me to share your pictures in the mag! I hope you take a look at the new online cable map we released this morning!

Please reach out if you have questions or tag @subtelforum on social media so we can see your fantastic pictures!

Safe travels. STF REBECCA SPENCE is the Project Manager from Submarine Telecoms Forum. Rebecca possessed more than 10 years’ experience as an analyst and database manager, including for the small business division of prominent government contractor, General Dynamics IT. She is a regular contributor to SubTel Forum Magazine and is based out of Hillsborough, North Carolina USA.

JUNE 2022 | ISSUE 125

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sustainable SUBSEA CALCULATING A SUBSEA FOOTPRINT

BY KRISTIAN NIELSEN

E

ven though they contribute to climate change, the digital infrastructure industries are taking a role in leading the planet to net zero. Take for example, the iMasons Climate Accord established earlier this year, which brought together companies to take steps to reduce carbon emissions. Signed by hyperscalers like Meta, Google, and Microsoft as well as data center, infrastructure service, and software companies around the world, the accord commits to an open standard for reporting carbon in materials, products, and power. This includes standard carbon labels for products to measure carbon over their lifetime and for data center buildings to account for the carbon embodied in building materials and products housed in the center. To date, one hundred and fifty-six companies have signed up to collaborate on shortening the timeline for carbon neutrality.

Sharing information is crucial to creating change. While many subsea companies have been successful in collecting data, one way to compound these results is by sharing these results across the industry. Currently, there is no universal mechanism to measure carbon over the life of materials used to build, maintain, and repair subsea telecommunications infrastructure. Emissions reporting quickly becomes unreliable without consistent metrics. Arbitrary protocols make it easier to round and remove numbers, so comparisons across tasks and processes become

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difficult to evaluate. The industry has been largely wary of sharing data, but developing an open standard to model a carbon footprint is essential because regulation is increasingly required around the world. Companies operating in the state of California in the United States already must report emissions to the state as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Australia uses a tool called the Emissions and Energy Reporting System to report their data under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme. Many more will follow in the years to come.

Competition among peer organizations also contributes to setting norms within the industry. Companies already share their data to third

parties in order to publish sustainability reports. CDP has been helping companies leverage investor pressure to push for information disclosure on environmental impact for over twenty years. Corporate climate reporting has helped businesses and cities develop incentives and take action on climate change. Standards like ISO 14000 are another example of the results of decades of effort pushing in this direction. Advocating for specificity helps set regulatory guidelines that can take the industry into a sustainable future. Creating a data pool for subsea can help industry leaders inform environmental policy decisions and track their progress.

Measuring and reporting data may require additional work, yet it will be

increasingly necessary as companies and countries continue to work to reduce emissions. At the same time, sharing data across the industry is helpful from a business perspective.

Knowing how facilities and processes contribute to the carbon footprint functions as an incentive to identify efficient strategies that can also be financially sustainable. The subsea industry can drive the conversation that broaches sustainability by sharing data across the supply chain. Carbon reporting has become increasingly required from suppliers by ICT companies in order to specify their own data collection efforts. It is in companies’ best interest to be able to provide these numbers in order to stay competitive. Calculating the subsea footprint puts us in a position to create change in a way that will still be economically beneficial in the future.

AN INDUSTRY MODEL FOR COLLABORATION: THE UNIVERSAL JOINT

Universal Jointing (UJ) exemplifies the impact of industrial collaboration among the subsea industry and can help us to imagine what a universal carbon footprint model would look like. UJ is a method of connecting all types of submarine optical telecommunication cables with a common set of construction and equipment & methods. As a single technology with a common standard for training and qualification, UJ is cost efficient as both a capital and operating expense.

For multi-supplier systems, there are increased options for sharing spare cable, and it provides a wider choice of service providers. Since its first installation in 1990, the UJ has been reliable because members of the industry have been able to share expertise and feedback, developing an

optimized maintenance and a common philosophy and standard. The UJ Consortium (UJC) is a group of cable systems that use UJ for maintenance solutions to collectively advance knowledge of jointing by sharing data, technical, manufacturing, and engineering information. Members of the UJC focus on particular responsibilities on their own, but they work together to inform cable operators, manufacturers, and contractors on the technology itself.

The UJ’s strategy is useful as an analogy for the work involved in trying to develop a model for carbon emissions in the subsea industry. In order to gain qualification status, the join or coupling must undergo a set of tests to determine its success.

Doing so allows for the Consortium to gather pre-qualification and actual qualification information and store this information within a database that also collects test reports. Qualification Test Specifications (QTSs) are regularly reviewed and agreed upon by the Consortium in order to minimize the qualification tests for new cable combinations. The UJ strategy is effective because of the communication and relationship established among cable manufacturers and system purchasers. Increased cooperation among members allows for the scope of testing to be minimized and customer expenses to be reduced. This mindset of sharing information is similar to the work WFN Strategies and the Sustainable Subsea Networks research initiative are trying to achieve in developing a carbon model for emissions. These efforts can collectively develop a shared standard across the industry. Connecting different companies’ climate data into a seamless network will help us chart

a path to a more competitive and climate-friendly future.

The subsea industry has been operating in a specific way for a long time.

The technology has changed throughout the centuries, but the measures and procedures have not followed as quickly. Calculating a subsea footprint considers the environment in an impactful way. The Leif Erikson cable system will be the first to use only hydropower on either side of the system. Looking forward to a future where sustainable practices will be increasingly required, Bulk Infrastructure did not only consider safety and risk mitigation but also a sustainability profile that will likely be the future norm. The subsea industry is in a unique position to collaborate across sectors and address sustainability in a way that is both financially and environmentally sound.

THE SUBSEA CARBON FOOTPRINT

Beyond industry-wide deliberations, a subsea carbon footprint can also help individual firms better assess their environmental impacts, opening up many different courses of action.

But, before they can act, they first must calculate. This is often achieved through working with consultants. As a cable consultancy, WFN Strategies has been investing in sustainability through their data acquisition and research in order to build a better, cleaner, and forward-looking industry.

The first step to doing this is by tracking emissions for customers, which is possible across each step of the process using a custom-built dashboard.

Because ICT climate impacts are hard to determine and subsea has been omitted from calculations of footprint studies, WFN is working to build a system to organize the collected data.

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sustainable SUBSEA WFN has been asked for sustainable opportunities for a cable system in the course of their activities in subsea cable consulting. They have identified five primary interventions from a commercial perspective: 1) systems design and engineering, 2) survey, 3) system manufacture and installation, 4) operations, and 5) life cycle. The first four are the most significant in the process of building a cable, and they each have particular strategies that can reduce emissions.

In planning the route of the cable system, the biggest source of emissions comes from traveling for meetings.

Most of this part can be done virtually, a practice that has become more common since the start of the pandemic.

This is a simple solution that can have an impact on savings (see for more information the last article in the Sustainable Subsea column, “Flying the Skies to Wire the Seas”).

Secondly, when surveying the cable route by ship, companies are usually focused on completing this in the fastest time, which often results in increased carbon emissions. Reducing the distance traveled and optimizing fuel consumption offers a solution that can get the job done with sustainability in mind.

Thirdly, in terms of emissions generated during the manufacturing stage, the cables themselves have the most significant impact with the fibers being almost negligible in their calculation. Thus, using less armor through the optimization of lightweight cables could be helpful.

Similar to the survey, optimizing fuel consumption can be useful during the installation phase. Less burial with strategic plowing can also reduce the amount of equivalent tons of CO2, as there are considerable methane

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emissions associated with disturbing coastal sediment.

Fourthly, there are the emissions associated with the operations of the cable system. These have the highest carbon impacts of the whole process, even if cable landing stations’ use electricity from grids that are powered by natural gas (rather than obviously dirty sources like coal). Using green energy to power these stations, ideally with hydroelectric fuels, would be significant for sustainable investment.

Fifth and finally, there is the end of life of a cable system, which in this case is assumed to include the two cable landing stations for twenty-five years. Seeking alternative energy sources would decrease CO2 emissions at this stage. Taking into account all of these processes will be useful in creating an initial model for carbon emissions in a cable system.

Taking sustainability into account can reduce environmental impacts and increase margins. In the case of the Leif Erikson system, using a hydroelectric solution resulted in savings in the overall expenses in the system. Manufacturing a cable uses energy, but there are different ways to get the job done across the supply chain. Sharing data across the industry will make that nexus easier to locate and optimize. It might be difficult to change the power consumption in a landing station, but thinking about changes across the supply chain can help use power more efficiently. More data will make these benefits more apparent.

CONCLUSION

Calculating a subsea footprint will require that the industry collaborate by sharing data with one another.

Initiatives like the iMasons Climate

Accord and the UJ consortium model the type of shared practice that can help us move toward a carbon neutral future. The Carbon Call has also been a significant contributor to collaborative data collection towards net zero. Many companies have taken the call and joined the initiative to report emissions transparently, regularly, and comprehensively. They believe that interoperability helps make data more reliable.

In order to understand the progress in emissions reduction, companies need to incorporate not just more comprehensive data but share that information to collectively close the gap.

The subsea industry can drive the conversations necessary for financial and environmental sustainability.

Approaching our footprint through the manufacturing of a cable system puts us in a position to think practically about this issue and take steps to work together towards a better future.

WFN Strategies and Sustainable Subsea Networks are working together to develop an industry-wide model for emissions. A shared, basic footprinting model can help us assess the merits of building new cable systems and build a sustainable internet. STF KRISTIAN NIELSEN, Quality & Fulfilment Director, WFN Strategies. Kristian is based in the main office in Sterling, Virginia USA. He has more than 14 years’ experience and knowledge in submarine cable systems, including Arctic and offshore Oil & Gas submarine fiber systems. As Quality & Fulfilment Director, he supports the Projects and Technical Directors, and reviews subcontracts and monitors the prime contractor, supplier, and is astute with Change Order process and management. He is responsible for contract administration, as well as supports financial monitoring. He possesses Client Representative experience in submarine cable load-out, installation and landing stations, extensive project logistics and engineering support, extensive background in administrative and commercial support and is an expert in due diligence.

wfnstrategies.com

WFN Strategies is an accredited, industry-leading consultancy specializing in the planning, procurement, and implementation of submarine cable systems.

We support commercial, governmental, and offshore energy companies throughout the world.

We analyze and advocate renewable energy alternatives for clients’ submarine cables.

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FEATURE

7 QUESTIONS WITH INGER GLOERSEN FOLKESON Talking Network Trends With Bulk Fiber Networks’ Executive Vice President

1.

WHAT IS BULK FIBER NETWORKS’ MISSION?

Bulk’s mission is to accelerate the evolution towards sustainable connectivity.

The Nordics offer affordable and abundant clean hydropower enabling large-scale data processing to operate sustainably while minimizing costs. Bulk’s fiber networks are connecting the Nordics with the world’s major markets through scalable, sustainable infrastructure.

2.

HOW DOES BULK FIBER NETWORKS PARTICIPATE IN THE SUBMARINE CABLE MARKET?

We are a neutral fiber network provider delivering flexible, diversified and sustainable digital connectivity solutions. Today we have more than 10,000 km of dark fiber routes available, including both intercontinental and

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intra-Nordic infrastructure that links to major European and US markets.

3.

IS BULK FIBER NETWORKS CURRENTLY INVOLVED WITH MANY NEW SUBMARINE CABLE PROJECTS?

Our next large cable project is the Leif Erikson subsea system, which will connect two of the main renewable giants in the world, the Nordics and Atlantic Canada, in order to grow sustainable digital infrastructure driven by an abundance of renewable energy. The system will also secure a true diverse route avoiding the route similarities in other trans-Atlantic networks. The Leif Erikson Cable System will consist of a 4,200 km direct link between southern Norway and Atlantic-Canada connecting into Goose Bay, including plans to extend the system terrestrially

back to Montreal. The system will be the first trans-Atlantic cable powered with 100% renewable energy in line with Bulk’s vision to bring sustainable infrastructure to a global audience.

4.

WHAT MAKES BULK FIBER NETWORKS UNIQUE IN THE SUBMARINE SYSTEM MARKET?

We are the only neutral fiber network company that delivers flexible, diversified and sustainable digital connectivity solutions into the Nordics supporting mission-critical applications and services.​

5.

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF BULK FIBER NETWORKS’ SUCCESS?

All of Bulk’s investments are based on 4 criteria, it has to be: Sustainable, Infrastructure, Scalable and the Nordics has to be part of the equation. We strongly believe that the Nordic region is uniquely positioned to accommodate the growing demand for sustainable data processing, and Bulk Fiber networks unlocks this demand with our diverse routes into the region. An example is the Havsil system completed earlier this year, which is the shortest route connecting Norway to continental Europe with unmatched capacity, improving diversity by avoiding the traditional fiber routes.

6.

AS SUSTAINABILITY HAS BECOME A HOT BUTTON ISSUE IN OUR INDUSTRY, WHAT ARE BULK FIBER NETWORKS’ PLANS FOR SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS GOING FORWARD?

For Bulk, location is key to achieving sustainable solutions. Regions where renewable energy is available, such as the Nordic countries or Canada, provide locations that ensure a high level of sustainability from day one.

These regions also offer a stable political environment, low climate risk and a well-developed legal and organizational framework that protects employees. The need for digital infrastructure increases dramatically, and sustainable locations are necessary to avoid destructive environmental impact. A customer moving their data from a data center in central Europe to Norway will for example reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from power consumption by 96 per cent. Fiber networks connecting the Nordics to the rest of Europe and Northern America ensure low latency and high capacity connectivity, enabling data center facilities powered by renewable energy.

The need for digital infrastructure increases dramatically, and sustainable locations are necessary to avoid destructive environmental impact. A customer moving their data from a data center in central Europe to Norway will for example reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from power consumption by 96 per cent.

Last year Bulk started to map emissions for full scope 1-3 according to the Green House Gas Protocol. Scope 1 is direct emissions, scope 2 is indirect emissions from the grid, and scope 3 is indirect emissions not owned by Bulk.

A lesson learned from the mapping process was that scope 3 represents more than 90 per cent of all emissions and that getting hold of precise emission data is challenging.

Bulk Fiber Networks will continue to challenge the value chain on scope 3, and sustainability is part of our tendering processes when seeking suppliers to new projects.

7.

WHAT IS NEXT FOR BULK FIBER NETWORKS?

The strong growth in data processing and storage drives the demand for new investments in underlying fiber infrastructure, including both subsea and terrestrial systems. Bulk is well positioned as a leading provider of large capacity transport fiber, both going into the Nordics and within the Nordics. In addition to our Leif Erikson project, we continue to explore opportunities for new fiber network developments being strategic enablers for the Nordic data center market. STF INGER GLOERSEN FOLKESON joined Bulk as the EVP Fiber Networks and COO for Bulk infrastructure Group in August 2021.

Previously, Folkeson was the Chief Financial Officer at Digi Telecommunications where she led finance operations and guided strategy, business development, performance management and efficiency initiatives for the Malaysian mobile connectivity and internet services provider. Prior to joining Digi, Inger held a series of senior leadership positions at Telenor ASA, the international tele, data and media communication service provider.

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FEATURE

TY

DE

CI

FI

A

N

IGH C H G AP N I

A Discussion of Cable Manufacturers

BY STEPHEN NIELSEN

G

iven that the submarine telecoms industry has a history of more than 170 years of continuous development, it can be surprising how vague many concepts are as their actual definition doesn’t span the industry.

What constitutes “Deep Water?” How long does a cable need to be to be “Long Haul?” For the purposes of this High Capacity Issue of Submarine Telecoms Forum, we asked the question “What is a High Capacity cable,” and discovered that the answer wasn’t so clear.

“The definition of high capacity is constantly changing,” said a representative of HMN Tech.

Along with HMN Tech, Hexatronic, Prysmian and NEC responded to a Q&A regarding the current state and future of the High Capacity cable manufacturing industry.

All four are notable cable manufacturers in the submarine telecoms industry. There are currently seven primary cable manufacturers supplying the submarine telecoms industry: ASN, Prysmian, Hexatronic, HMN Tech, NEC, Nexans, and SubCom.

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“Currently, one could argue that any repeatered cable containing 16 fiber pairs could be regarded as high capacity, but that’s a pretty arbitrary number, and doesn’t take into account the capacity of each fiber pair,” said NEC’s response. “Also, at the current growth rate of traffic demand, today’s notion of ‘high capacity’ will become more and more mainstream.” Similarly, Prysmian defines high-capacity as 48 fiber pairs for unrepeatered cables, and 16 for repeatered.

Alternately, the response by Hexatronic argues that a truly high-capacity cable would be “a submarine cable of 96 fibers or more.” This definition, however, could only be applied to the unrepeatered cables, given that current repeater technology can only handle roughly 24 fiber pairs.

This highlights a current large disparity in what could be considered high-capacity cable in unrepeatered vs. repeatered cables. HMN Tech can claim a maximum of up to 1000 fiber pairs in their unrepeatered cables while their repeatered maxes out at up to 32 fiber pairs. NEC currently has cables with 24 fiber pairs in production, and state that

“further improvements to this number are very close to market.” Hexatronic cables can go up to 192 fibers for their unrepeatered systems.

“A high-capacity cable means the cable can meet customers’ current capacity requirements and support capacity expansion to meet increasing bandwidth requirements to the greatest extent in the future 25-year lifespan of cable,” said HMN Tech’s response. “Technically, the recent demands are well satisfied by the advanced technologies, like SDM wet plant solution, and optical fibers with large effective area and low loss.”

Planned capacity worldwide is expected to increase by 110% over the next five years according to public information included in the Subtel Forum Database. Alongside new cable builds, older systems are implementing upgrades

to expand capacity and extend system lifespan. All of which highlights that innovation and continued development of cable technology will be key to keeping up with ever-increasing demand for capacity and the eventual failure of older systems.

“There doesn’t seem to be any slow-down in the subsea capacity demanded by the market.,” responded NEC. “Real-time services like AR, VR and the metaverse in general are set to continue to drive end user demand, supported by rollouts of 5G and gigabit fiber access. Experimental trials of 6G are planned, which will further fuel higher subsea capacity needs.”

In that light, companies were asked about the future of high-capacity cable development. According to Hexatronic, an invention coming down the line will be a new type of

C A B L E M A N U FAC T U R E R P R O F I L E S Company Alcatel Submarine Networks

HQ Location ASN is headquartered in Paris, France.

Hengtong Group (HMN Tech) HTGD is headquartered in Suzhou, China.

Business Type

Website

Integrated turn-key supplier capable www.asn.com of cable and system manufacture, and its installation Integrated turn-key supplier capable www.hengtonggroup.com of cable and system manufacture

Hexatronic Cables & Interconnect Systems

Hexatronic is headquartered Cable manufacturer in Hudiksvall, Sweden.

www.hexatronic.com

NEC

NEC is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Integrated turn-key supplier capable www.nec.com of cable and system manufacture, and its installation

Nexans Norway AS

Nexans Norway is headquartered in Oslo, Norway.

Cable manufacturer

www.nexans.no/

Prysmian Group (NSW)

NSW is headquartered in Nordenham, Germany.

Cable manufacturer

www.nsw.com

SubCom

SubCom is headquartered in Integrated turn-key supplier capable www.subcom.com Eatontown, New Jersey USA of cable and system manufacture, and its installation JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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FEATURE fiber that will increase capacity without any major change to the size of the cable. Prysmian predicts the advancement of higher fiber densities within cables.

HMN Tech sees that and more coming, as the industry may need to change along with the innovation of new technologies. “First, 32fps high fiber count SDM solution will open the Petabits era and can meet the higher capacity requirement with 5G, Data center and stream media flourishing.”

Additionally, they expect that single-mode fibers will be reduced in size and cladding diameter of fibers will also be minimized to increase the amount of fiber pairs without increased cable size.

An increase in automated computer monitoring will be another major step in how standard cable systems are run.

“Intelligent analysis and management NMS is desired to use AI algorithms to predict network performance fault trends and carry out intelligent fault location functions to help customers predict network faults and prevent faults in advance, ensure the quality of communication services, and realize AI-based predictive maintenance.”

This would be in conjunction with the more flexible network topology and maintenance management: “A variety of optical switch BU, hot switching function, and WSS ROADM enhance the flexibility and robustness of network. Power efficiency is critical for power-constraint HFC SDM [high fiber count] system, which requires stronger power supply of PFE and higher work voltage of wet plants, thus, cable capacity and power efficiency should be balanced to obtain the optimal solution,” responded HMN Tech.

Finally, HMN Tech predicts further developments in SMART cables: DAS technology which uses fibers as “sensors” to detect vibrations. “With the forward development of technology, various types of real sensors, such as acceleration sensor, temperature sensor and pressure

sensor can be added inside or outside RPT to collect more comprehensive information and help us explore the situation of the ocean better.”

Beyond the topic of developing technologies to support capacity demand, the subject of sustainability has been a significant one in all parts of the submarine telecoms industry, including cable manufacturers.

“For the ICT industry, sustainability means a communication system is designed, manufactured, managed, and used in a way that minimizes environmental impact and meets the aims of sustainable development,” responded HMN Tech. Hexatronic’s response agreed that for cable manufacturers, sustainability means a low climate impact, sustainable supply chain, and strong business ethics.

That said, according to HMN Tech, cable manufacturers, don’t really need to go out of their way to support sustainability: “Compared with other ICT equipment (like data center), subsea cable transporting 99% of internet data is one of the most environment-friendly digital infrastructures with negligible carbon emission, according to the relative research,” responded HMN Tech. “This is good news for the world that the significant internet trunk meets sustainable development. Submarine cable is supposed to become a major communication system to be recommended based on its green advantages.”

So, to ask again: What is a High Capacity cable? Well I guess that all depends. STF

An increase in automated computer monitoring will be another major step in how standard cable systems are run. “Intelligent analysis and management NMS is desired to use AI algorithms to predict network performance fault trends and carry out intelligent fault location functions to help customers predict network faults and prevent faults in advance.

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STEPHEN NIELSEN is Editor at Submarine Telecoms Forum and possesses more than 10 years’ experience in examining submarine cable systems. He has previously supported blogging and streaming at various PTC and SubOptic conferences. He is also a 6th Grade English Teacher and a former Finalist for Society of Professional Journalism’s Mark of Excellence Award.

He was previously employed by Winchester Star newspaper and Capital News Services, and is an American citizen based in Sterling, Virginia USA.

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FEATURE

E N N CIFI

O A P E C TH Well Done – But It Doesn’t Stop There!

BY JOHN HIBBARD & PAUL MCCANN

M

ajor construction and installation activities over the past decade have seen almost all the Pacific Island Nations connected to the global internet by fibre optic submarine cable, the most recent of which are Tokelau and Kiribati – both of which are now both connected into the global network via SX NEXT cable system. As we have recorded over the course of the last few years - of the 22 Pacific Island Nations it is amazing to realise that only Nauru and Tuvalu remain to be “cabled”!

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ECC T I N N AT I

ON

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FEATURE THE LANDING THE NEW SUBMARINE CABLE INTO TOKELAU

As for Nauru – it is important to hear that following significant delay, the East Micronesia Cable (EMC) connection into Nauru is again moving forward with a planned in-service date of 2025. The EMC system will also bring low latency and abundant capacity also into neighbouring Kiribati (Tarawa) and to Kosrae (FSM). As for the nation of Tuvalu, well that connection remains in planning with a solid hope that a suitable solution will emerge in the not-too-distant future!

So – well done to all of us who have worked hard to improve the international connectivity for the people of the Pacific Region - this has been much needed, yet it is now time to realise that in the same process, this same solution has intensified the requirement for improved domestic connections that could enable the population to access the low latency, high quality service they afford. As such, one of the key challenges for smaller nations such as in the Pacific is to exploit this glut of international capacity. This is best done through a combination of higher capacity connections from the cable landing point via the telecom operator to the customer and via the introduction of new applications made possible by the high capacity.

For many Pacific islands, the most common way for consumers to connect to the internet is through their mobile phone. However, many mobile phone networks were designed assuming the use of higher cost satellite connections and as such operators seek to squeeze as much traffic as possible on the narrow pipes which has an adverse effect on quality and makes response times slow. It is therefore imperative that the domestic access networks, whether mobile or wired, are upgraded to accommodate the surge in demand. Across the Pacific, when cables have been landed, we have seen demand increase between 2 and

6 times within just 3 months, with consequent reduction in costs to users.

Another significant opportunity to exploit the increased cable capacity is with new applications. For example, the

For many Pacific islands, the most common way for consumers to connect to the internet is through their mobile phone.

However, many mobile phone networks were designed assuming the use of higher cost satellite connections and as such operators seek to squeeze as much traffic as possible on the narrow pipes which has an adverse effect on quality and makes response times slow.

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provision of e-health services can improve the quality of life. With the extra capacity, for instance x-rays and MRIs can be done locally and if the interpretation skills are not available at the clinic, the results can be sent to say New

person

Zealand, Australia or Hawaii for evaluation potentially avoiding the need for expensive patient travel overseas.

Other applications include opportunities such as teleworking – for example where lawyers and accountants can operate in their own countries rather than needing to locate at their head office in another country. There are many more examples that can be provided – but the key message here is that – the solution doesn’t stop with the provision of the submarine cable – we all have more work to do!

One of the real success stories in the Pacific has been Palau where in just 4 years, the traffic demand has risen more than 20-fold and quality has gone from a slow, intermittent service to a fast continuous service thanks to the combination of a submarine cable and an upgraded local connectivity network. This has enabled a transition to a digital economy which has served them well (particularly during the COVID period). In fact, they have become so dependent on the economic benefits that they are now well advanced on a second cable to provide back-up for their current umbilical cord. We have of course seen and heard of the consequences in Tonga when their sole international submarine cable broke following the volcanic eruption.

Submarine cables provide abundant high quality lower cost connections for countries enabling the economic development of industries as well as providing populations to have access to the same services available in larger countries. However, garnering these benefits depends on cooperation between the telecom carriers and the government service organisations to provide the network infrastructure

and applications to exploit the capabilities of the cables.

For us all involved in this wonderful ICT industry, it remains gratifying to see that through the installation of an international submarine cable this opens a gateway to many other benefits for a small island nation – and whilst this has been much needed – our work is not done yet! STF JOHN HIBBARD is CEO of Hibbard Consulting Pty Ltd. John has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 40 years, and for more than 30 has been associated with submarine cables. An Engineer by qualification, John worked for much of his career at Telstra finishing as Managing Director of Global Wholesale. John was the inaugural Chairman of Australia Japan Cable which he guided to a successful implementation.

Since 2001, John has been an independent consultant in his own company, Hibbard Consulting, involved in strategic and commercial aspects associated with the development and/or implementation of many international submarine cable projects across the Pacific including French Polynesia, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomons, PNG, Palau, FSM, and CNMI. He was President of PTC from 2009 to 2012.

PAUL MCCANN is Managing Director of McCann Consulting International Pty Ltd. Paul has over 40 years network planning & development experience in telecommunications both in international and domestic arenas. Prior to returning to consulting in 2012, Paul spent over 8 years with Verizon in Asia Pacific, driving growth of Verizon’s network across Asia by developing & implementing plans delivering major operational cost reductions and improved service performance. Paul is now managing his own consulting business, specializing in development in the Pacific Region, where the core business focus is on “connectivity” with expertise spanning all aspects of planning and development for Satellite, Submarine cable and Domestic access technologies and business.

Paul is well known for his personable nature, his rapport with customers and his ability to deliver on time.

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SAY HELLO

TO YOUR NE

NEW ONLINE MAP FEATURES Interactive 3D rendering Drag to highlight desired systems Multiple cable system view User selected base map Print/save option

EW FAVORITE BOOKMARK

FEATURE

HOW TO FORGE AN AFRICAN PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICAN SUCCESS

BY DIXIT SHAH

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C

onnectivity is the future of African success! This statement stands true in more ways than one, which makes this statement the perfect tagline for the work that Liquid Intelligent Technologies undertakes on this great continent. Not only is internet connectivity a key to unlocking future economic success, but the connections between people and businesses is even more critical.

Partnerships are power in Africa, but only if it is done right.

In striving towards a future that all Africans believe is possible, it takes a certain kind of community to make that happen. The age-old strategy of building your own empire, creating a monopoly, and dominating regions are not going to cut it anymore. This is especially true when the continent wants to be recognised as a strong unit on a global stage.

What African enterprises and entrepreneurs need are partners that are their strengths.

Over the years, Liquid has been involved in solidifying key partnerships spanning from America, to Europe, Asia, and across the continent – doing it all in the name of spurring on Africa’s connectivity journey. With the right partnerships, the organisation has managed to build Africa’s largest independent fibre network – connecting the Continent to the world.

To provide connectivity through metro fibres, rural fibres, cross-border fibres and more, we have had to deal with multiple countries, governments, and businesses. For this, we needed partners who are reliable, trustworthy and dependable, and most importantly, who share the same values and goals as we do.

Creating a network that connects Africa to the rest of the world allows for data to flow seamlessly and the continent can experience a connection on a level that creates untold, and sometimes unexpected, possibilities. However, the journey isn’t always a walk in the partnership park.

Like most markets around the world, Africa is driven by its own culture. The common mistake made by many first world opportunists lies in the way they treat this dynamic and unique marketplace as if it was exactly like home.

It is important to remember that each country has cultural differences, various legal requirements, different government agendas, and different states of societal development. When doing business in Africa, it is important to get familiarised with the specific country, culture and the person or business you are looking to partner with.

One of our greatest learnings as an organisation has been that the African economic landscape is ever-shifting and ever-growing and a well-informed and meticulous com-

mercial team is vital for success.

So, what makes a good partner? If an organisation is looking to expand into Africa, good partners are critical for success. A good partner must fulfil the below list of requirements: • What services do they offer? These need to complement your organisation’s goals.

• Are they competitive in their market? They need to be the best choice within a market segment.

• What guarantees can they offer? There will always be risks, but these need to be measured.

• Are they easy to deal with? As partnerships are relationships, organisations need to find ways to ascertain whether the relationship will be easy to maintain and then grow.

When doing business in Africa,

it is important to get familiarised with the specific country, culture and the person or business you are looking to partner with.

Africa is the land of opportunity, and with the right partnerships in tow, it can be the future of global economic growth and success. Yet, it is at this crucial stage in continental development that breeds competition and mistrust between partners. However, the right partnership has the potential for growth for all.

Any business looking to forge partnerships in Africa, will need to work together, finding partners who complement each other, and grow the continent together as the continent becomes increasingly ripe for international investments.

In conclusion, this Nigerian proverb sums it up beautifully: A man cannot sit down alone to plan for prosperity.

This is doubly true for business.

Partnerships are prosperity, power, and profit. STF DIXIT SHAH is Head of Operations and Operator Alliances at Liquid Dataport.

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FEATURE

KEEPING CONTINE Subsea Cable Management and Maintenance is Changing with the Times

BY RON TOTTON 34

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S

ubsea cable management and maintenance is changing with the times to support internet companies that own all their own infrastructure.

Subsea cable systems are recognized as a vital cog in the fast-growing digital economy, fueled by the world’s seemingly endless appetite for faster connectivity.

For businesses, it’s driven by the rise of cloud computing and a dependency on hyperscale platform providers. For consumers, it’s the entertainment equivalent, whether it’s streaming TV and music services or using social media platforms.

Faced with greater demand, the pressure is on subsea cable operators to mitigate the risk of outages, which as the citizens of Tonga can confirm, is a very real risk and amplified when a single cable connects a country to the web. In January, an undersea eruption broke the connection 23 miles offshore. It took over two months to fix, in which time the main island depended on an unreliable 2G wireless connection.

The slow response might reflect the economic challenge of maintaining a connection that only serves around 100,000 people. Elsewhere in the world, new submarine fiber cable projects are connecting continents on a scale that will demand unprecedented levels of support should something go wrong, not least because new entrants into the market will want the management and maintenance to be as leading edge as the services they provide.

from 6.3% in 2010 to 69% in 2021, and expected to reach 78% by 2027.

Relying on a combination of consortia builds and private builds, these hyperscale specialists are driving the growth and increasing the control over the cables they own. They have a rigorous focus on the capability, range, and capacity of the cables they are laying and will expect them to be optimized throughout their lifespan, which includes doing everything they can to mitigate the impact of costly outages.

No surprise that these companies are leveraging leading-edge technologies to do the job. In the case of Meta, a project connecting Ireland, the UK and the Nordics is using the innovative Havhingsten cable system, which has an aluminum conductor rather than copper, and an enhanced burial plough for added protection in the busy North and Irish Sea sections.

Advanced technologies are now being used in cable laying vessels to facilitate precise routing in challenging undersea environments, and strides are being made to make high-capacity fiber-optic lines more resilient. The next phase is to continue to protect and optimize subsea cable investments, to be very selective about who is procured to do the ongoing management and maintenance once they go live.

SETTING NEW SUBSEA STANDARDS

The exponential growth in subsea traffic and global demand for terabyte-per-second speeds has caused a paradigm shift – not just in the way large-scale projects are planned and executed, but how they are subsequently run.

In the traditional subsea model, where a small multi layered group of operators co-owned the infrastructure and collectively contracted expertise in PFE (Power Feeding Equipment) and SLTE (Submarine Line Terminal Equipment) as well as technical support, services tended to be generic

The subsea market is going through unprecedented change as Meta and Google shift their emphasis, from generating demand to generating supply. They have growth models predicated on connecting to Africa where their footprints are still relatively small. It is part of a much bigger picture transition in the industry, tracked by TeleGeography, which shows how content providers are consuming more and more of total international cable capacity, leaping

MULTI-LAYERED SUPPORT CAPABILITIES

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FEATURE and come to down a roving group of contractors. old and new skills. Proficiency in SDM, PFE and SLTE Because new subsea entrants own their own cable, they is a prerequisite. After an event, HLLB (High Loss Loop have an opportunity to fine-tune support to meet their spe- Back) repeater scans are performed on each fiber pair to cific technical requirements. Like all the best determine if a cable or damage to specific fibers has ocmanaged service propositions, the primary curred. And PFE voltages are analyzed to give a coarse task will be to free them up to focus on location of the cable anomaly. If a cable break is detheir core business, which in the case of internet companies is about so much more than connecProviders will need security experts to take on tivity. It will therefore be increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, data incumbent on the next analysts and AI specialists to advance the shift in maintenance from generation of subsea support companies, not being proactive to predictive. just manage and monitor the cable, but to set out a roadmap towards continuous improvement, which will termined then it’s about using COTDR (Coherent Optical mean leveraging the latest technology.

Time Domain Reflectometry) across all impacted fibers to Subsea systems operators need to be proactive rather than accurately locate the size and extent of the problem, as well reactive, and new technology is the great enabler. Real-time as inform the solution. monitoring, timely reporting and prompt maintenance are Harder to find are new skills and competencies that table stakes that demand a dedicated subsea NOC (Network will signal the biggest shift in subsea managed services.

Operation Centre), peopled by subsea specialists who collect Providers will need security experts to take on increasingly and collate data, triage every incident, and share granular sophisticated cyber threats, data analysts and AI specialists detail with the vessels of subsea repair contractors. to advance the shift in maintenance from being proactive to Submarine cables are susceptible to breaks and damage predictive. All will be required to meet the expectations of from man-made and natural events, from fishing activity and internet companies that live and breathe these technologies. dredging to bad weather and earthquakes. Cut or damaged Overcoming logistics challenges will be another part of cable can typically take days if not weeks to repair causing the remit. Managing and maintaining infrastructure that extended downtime (the Tonga experience would not be connect continents is a complex endeavor, where parts have typical). Once the clock is ticking, it’s about having the right to be available for delivery to remote corners of the world. length and type of cable, and a subsea repair vessel available When it comes to subsea repairs, they must be correctly with the right tools onboard to do the physical repairs. and cost effectively executed, both in time spent loading, In advance of sailing, engineers will try and identify the time at sea and the extent of the work carried out. point of the break by measuring the time it takes light to Just as internet companies have become disruptors in the bounce back from the broken fiber. The challenge for a new subsea cable market, a new wave of subsea managed service generation of subsea systems operators is to make imprecise providers must be ready to innovate on their side of the fault-finding more precise, so that when the vessel sets off, business. They need to be able combine first-class engineerthe most significant variable that could undermine repairs ing talent with leading-edge technologies, systems and proshould be the weather. cess automation. The world of subsea cabling has changed Back on land, there will be other jobs that also fall under forever, and everyone involved has to change with it. STF the remit of the systems operator. They will need to be able RON TOTTON is EVP for Strategy & Growth Markets in to escalate and provide on-site, multi-vendor engineering Indigo. Ron is assisting Indigo to disrupt and transform support, to ensure landing stations are always optimized telecoms networks with initiatives such as the launch of Indigo Subsea that looks to redefine and digitally transform and ready to connect with backhaul networks or directly the way subsea networks operate. into local data centers.

FUTURE-PROOF SKILLS

New subsea players are essentially laying a transoceanic network on top of the existing global network. This calls for

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He has helped develop a subsea Systems Operator model, which includes a dedicated NOC to meet the growing demand for operational support services. He has spent over a decade working closely with consortia that include ISPs, CSPs and telcos, forging strong relationships in every corner of the globe, from the Nordics to Southeast Asia.

FEATURE

MAXIMIZING CAPACITY AND DATA RATE ACROSS ALL TYPES OF SUBMARINE CABLES

BY GEOFF BENNETT

A

ccording to TeleGeography, there are 486 active and planned submarine cables operating around the world today. Traditionally, these cables were designed with an engineering life of 25 years, so it’s not surprising that some of them began their design and planning phases in the closing years of the last century.

As you might expect, newer submarine cables have higher performance than previous generations, as measured by a

combination of wavelength data rate and capacity. This is shown for trans-Atlantic cables spanning two decades of cable evolution in Figure 1. Note that all the figures are based on using the latest fifth-generation coherent transponders.

What you can see from this table is that fiber pair capacity peaked with the MAREA cable, which is an uncompensated large-effective-area fiber cable with very short repeater spacing. As we move to space-division multiplexJULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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Figure 1: Evolution of fiber capacity and cable capacity for trans-Atlantic cables

will cost between 100 and 200 million dollars – plus ongoing (SDM) architectures, fiber pair capacity goes down ing maintenance costs for its entire life. somewhat, but SDM cables can support many more fiber In some geographical areas, the demand profile may be pairs so that overall cable capacity continues to scale. The latest example of this is referred to in Figure 1 as the “Meta such that existing cables can easily meet growth levels if Cable” (it does not yet have an official name) announced by they receive transponder upgrades during their lifetime.

So, it makes sense for all types of cable that, during Dr. Steve Grubb, Global Submarine Network Architect for their 25-year (or more) engineering lives, network opMeta, at the PTC conference in January 2022. In addition erators will upgrade their submarine line-terminating to scaling total cable capacity, SDM also helps to reduce equipment (SLTE) to extend their costs for individual fiber pair operaeconomic lives. tors because maritime maintenance costs for submarine cables are based WHAT IS “PERFORMANCE”? on the cable as a whole, so by supTHE PITFALLS OF C porting more fiber pairs, SDM cables ONVENTIONAL WISDOM As a note on terminology, in this can help to spread that cost. article I use the word performance as a The transponders used in submaGiven that global submarine casynthesis of maximum wavelength data rine networks are usually based on pacity demand is increasing by about rate and maximum spectral efficiency the same optical engines as terrestri35 percent per year, it would seem to for a given transponder. These two goals al transponders, but often use spemake sense to deploy as many new are valuable to the network operator in cially selected optical and electronic cables as possible and forget about their own ways, but it is not possible to components in order to minimize the older cables, right? optimize for both at the same time. To noise in the circuit. But the best subWell, maybe not. A submarine achieve the highest wavelength data marine transponders will go a step cable can require five to seven years rate, one may need to compromise on further and include features that between the first meeting to discuss spectral efficiency, and vice versa. The help to optimize performance in all the new cable and the first services best transponders are the ones that minitypes of submarine cables. Modern running over the completed system. mize the amount of compromise needed. transponders are highly programAnd a trans-Atlantic submarine cable mable, and in terrestrial networks,

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Figure 2: Fixed high baud rates are not always the right approach for maximum capacity

conventional wisdom dictates: which delivers superior optical performance – especially Always use the highest baud rate of the transponder if we are optimizing for high wavelength data rates. The Always use probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS) reason for this is that by using high baud rates we can …to deliver maximum optical performance. create high data rates while using a less spectrally efficient The reason this wisdom holds true for terrestrial net(but longer-reach) setting for our probabilistic constellation works is that we are dealing with large numbers of waveshaping modulation. length services over diversely routed optical paths, usually However, maximum baud rate operation is not always in a meshed topology. In other words, the design philosthe case for modern submarine cables that fit into the cateophy is to keep things simple while achieving the highest gories of large-effective-area/positive-dispersion cables, nor practical performance. for emerging SDM cables.

In submarine networks, fiber capacity is incredibly valuable, while topology is relatively simple, so it becomes worthwhile to spend time WHAT IS PROBABILISTIC CONSTELLATION SHAPING? optimizing the fiber channel plan and configuring different parts of the In optical transmission we load the data bits we’d like to transmit into modulation spectrum in different ways to achieve symbols. Previous generations of optical engine used fixed modulation constellations maximum performance. Moreover, a such as PM-QPSK (4 bits per symbol), PM-16QAM (8 bits per symbol), or PM-64QAM high-quality subsea transponder solu(12 bits per symbol). As we load more bits into each symbol, the spectral efficiency tion will include a degree of automaincreases, but optical reach drops exponentially. Probabilistic constellation shaping tion for this design process. uses a high-order constellation, such as PM-64QAM, and probabilistic data assignment techniques to reduce the frequency of the most problematic constellation points. In this way PCS allows us to optimize spectral efficiency at a given optical reach and ARE HIGH BAUD RATES ALWAYS GOOD? provides far greater granularity of performance compared to fixed constellations.

Modern transponders can operate at baud rates of up to 100 GBd, JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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Figure 3: The use case for non-PCS modulations

In Figure 2 I show that the quality of spectrum in these referred to as the operating margin for the fiber pair.

When we configure the wavelengths on these types of uncompensated cables varies across the C-band. Lower cables, we start by using the highest possible baud rate and frequencies have a more benign optical environment. The then adjust the probability distribution within the PCS reasons for this are complex but include the facts that settings to match the client services the effective area of a fiber has a we need to carry – and these settings frequency dependence and is largmust be above the commissioning er at lower frequencies, dispersion limit at the high-frequency end of is higher at lower frequencies, and WHAT IS A SUBCARRIER? the spectrum. amplifier noise figures are better at For example, on the MAREA lower frequencies.

The first types of coherent transponder trans-Atlantic cable, Infinera’s ICE6 To avoid bit errors being expetransmit a single carrier that looks like transponder can operate wavelength rienced by the users of the cable, one contiguous band of optical energy. data rates of 650 Gb/s. Clearly this transponders must operate with a This carrier is modulated as one entity. does not match any existing Ethtransmission margin above the forInfinera pioneered the use of Nyquist ernet service data rate. But ICE6 ward error correction (FEC) threshsubcarriers that are digitally synthesized is a dual-wavelength transponder old. But the operator of a given fiber in the coherent transmitter and generated with capacity that can be pooled pair will add a safety margin to this from a single laser. Each subcarrier can to create a 1.3 Tb/s super-channel. limit to tolerate short- or long-term be modulated independently, and because This capacity could be used to carry, changes in the fiber pair caused by they operate at lower baud rates, they for example, 13 x 100 GbE services, fiber repairs, long-term aging, or experience a lower impact from impairor two 400 GbE and five 100 GbE transient phenomena. Thus, the comments such as chromatic dispersion. services, or three 400 GbE and missioning limit shown in Figure 2 one 100 GbE service. In fact, any is above the FEC threshold and the combination of 100 GbE and 400 difference between the two is usually

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GbE can be combined over the super-channel.

If we are operating at the highest baud rate, then the PCS probability distribution can be adjusted to carry fewer bits per symbol to close the more challenging high-frequency parts of the fiber spectrum.

If we used the same configuration in the low-frequency spectrum, we would be leaving excess margin in the fiber because this part of the spectrum has better optical characteristics. By turning down the baud rate slightly, we can reduce the amount of spectrum that a given wavelength uses, and to ensure we carry the same data payload we can increase the bits per symbol of the PCS. When we adjust PCS this way, we “soak up” the excess margin, but since this wavelength is narrower thanks to the lower baud rate, we free up spectrum for more wavelengths to be added on the fiber.

This Margin Monetization™ technique is the key to achieving record-breaking performance on uncompensated cables such as MAREA, Dunant, Seabras-1, and EllaLink, with up to 25 percent more fiber pair capacity compared to a fixed high-baud-rate approach. So high baud rates are great, but the ability to vary them slightly to squeeze in more channels is even better.

Let’s be clear – PCS is almost always the best modulation to use to enhance capacityreach in terrestrial networks, as well as in uncompensated and SDM submarine cables.

IS PCS ALWAYS THE BEST MODULATION?

Let’s be clear – PCS is almost always the best modulation to use to enhance capacity-reach in terrestrial networks, as well as in uncompensated and SDM submarine cables.

But when we look at some examples of older cables that have a higher nonlinear penalty, we see that PCS may not always deliver the highest performance. Figure 3 shows that PCS efficiency tends to fade away below the equivalent of QPSK – which would often be the case in older, dispersion-managed cables.

Infinera’s ICE6 optical engine supports a non-PCS hybrid modulation that can be applied on a per-subcarrier basis. In Figure 3 we show the eight subcarriers from a single laser modulated using 3QAM on the outer four subcarriers, and QPSK on the inner four. This results in a “3.5QAM” modulation that has better optical performance

than using PCS for this particular cable. Other hybrid fixed modulations are possible, as well as overlaying more sophisticated hashing schemes to ensure phase and power balancing across polarizations and subcarriers. A highly balanced constellation like this will have significantly better performance in an environment with high nonlinear penalties. Using these techniques, we have seen between a 25 percent and 50 percent increase in fiber pair capacity compared to a PCS-only implementation.

IN SUMMARY

It’s essential to track transponder evolution during the lifetime of a submarine cable. Conventional wisdom gained from terrestrial network deployments does not always transfer well to submarine cables, no matter what type of cable. The use of variable high-baud-rate transponders and non-PCS modulation types can help fiber pair operators enhance performance dramatically in all submarine cable types. STF GEOFF BENNETT is the Director of Solutions & Technology for Infinera, a leading manufacturer of Intelligent Transport Network solutions. He has over 25 years of experience in the data communications industry, including IP routing with Proteon and Wellfleet; ATM and MPLS experience with FORE Systems; and optical transmission and switching experience with Marconi, where he held the position of Distinguished Engineer in the CTO Office. Geoff is a frequent conference speaker and is the author of “Designing TCP/IP Internetworks”, published by VNR.

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FEATURE

THE HISTORY OF CABLE & WIRELESS

BY STEWART ASH AND BILL BURNS

I

n the May Issue we explained how the Eastern Telegraph Co (ETC) was formed and grew into the largest telecommunications company in the world under John Pender and his youngest son, John Denison. Then how competition with Marconi’s radio had forced a merger between the two companies in 1929, and that it fell to John Pender’s grandson, John Cuthbert Denison-Pender (18821949), to take the new combined company forward.

John Cuthbert joined The Eastern Telegraph Co in 1900, at the age of eighteen. During the First World War, he served in France and Belgium as a Captain and aide-decamp to Major General William Lambton (1863-1936).

In 1917, he was captured and remained a prisoner of war until after the 11 November 1918 armistice. On returning to London in late November 1918, he re-joined the ETC. In January 1923, he was appointed Joint Managing Director, replacing his father, a position he retained when he was made Vice Chairman of the company in April 1925.

On 1 March 1928, there were three generations of Deni-

Electra House Moorgate 1902-1933

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son-Penders working for The Eastern Telegraph Co when John Jocelyn (1907-65), John Cuthbert’s eldest son, aged twenty-one, joined the London staff as an office junior in the Accounts Department. On 8 April 1929, John Cuthbert was appointed Governor and Joint Managing Director of Cable & Wireless Ltd and Joint Managing Director of Imperial & International Communications Ltd, alongside Admiral Henry William Grant (1870-1949). In July 1930, John Jocelyn was appointed Assistant Secretary of Imperial & International Communications Ltd. The first task of the merged operating company was to rationalise the organisation and reduce the annual overhead.

The board members were reduced from 22 to 14 and the workforce was reduced by 13%. On 1 January 1933, the Direct Spanish Telegraph Co, founded by John Pender in 1872 and until then owned by the Denison-Pender family, was acquired. Further acquisitions and liquidations were to follow.

When the Eastern Telegraph Co was formed the headquarters had been established at Palmerston Buildings in

New Electra House Victoria Embankment 1933-1955

Company; however, it recommended a Bishopsgate, but as the Company grew number of organisational changes, in parthe HQ was moved to 66 Old Broad ticular that they should replace the existStreet. The original building, known as ing Management Committee of Imperial Winchester House, was pulled down & International Communications with in 1883 and rebuilt, and from 1885 it a single Chairman and that the Governhoused the Company HQ, along with ment should approve that appointment. the headquarters of the Telegraph ConOn 3 May 1932, the Board of Directors struction & Maintenance Co (Telcon). In nominated John Cuthbert as Chairman 1902, the ETC moved to its own buildfor Government approval. His appointing, Electra House in Moorgate. Despite ment was confirmed, and one year later the need to reduce costs, the Company John Jocelyn was appointed as Deputy built a new HQ on Victoria EmbankGeneral Manager to Edward Wilshaw ment, while Electra House became part (1879-1968), who had joined the Eastern of the Post Office. New Electra House Telegraph Co as an apprentice in 1898. was officially opened by John Cuthbert’s One of the recommendations of the wife, Irene née de la Rue (1886-1943), on Greene Report was that the name of the 11 May 1933. operating company should be changed.

This reorganisation could not have The Court of Directors were opposed to come at a worse time, as the global John Cuthbert Denison-Pender c.

1934 this, but as the report was never pubeconomy had been plunged into ‘The

by Beatrice Bright (1861-1940) lished it did not become public knowlGreat Depression,’ which began in 1929 edge. However, responding to another and lasted throughout most of the 1930s. of the Greene report’s recommendations, the directors During this period, the directors of the Company were not appointed its first publicity manager, and it appears that he free to make purely commercial based decisions, and all was able to convince the directors that a change of name major decisions had to be approved by a government apwas a good idea. On 24 May 1934, pointed ‘Imperial Communications this was put to the shareholders Advisory Committee.’ Because of and the names were changed. its financial difficulties, in 1931 Imperial & International Commuthe Company put a proposal to nications Co Ltd became Cable the Advisory Committee to raise & Wireless Co Ltd, and Cable rates across the board. Due to & Wireless Ltd became Cable & the cost implications for Imperial Wireless (Holdings) Ltd. communications, a government By 1935, global communica‘Committee of Enquiry’ was set up tions were beginning to recover; to consider this plan. At a meeting however, in March that year Adolf of the Court of Directors of Cable Hitler’s National Socialist Govern& Wireless Ltd on 21 April that ment repudiated the disarmament year, the directors were warned clauses of the Versailles Treaty (28 that the Committee’s brief might June 1919), and in October Benito include the Government taking Mussolini’s Fascist Government over the Company. A three-man invaded Abyssinia. Submarine telecommittee was formed under the graph cables, which had appeared chairmanship of Wilfred Arthur to be on the point of being phased Greene KC (1883-1952) and its out, regained their importance and report was given to the Company’s became ‘strategic’ assets. In this directors on 21 November 1931. It environment, the Advisory Comsupported the Company’s recommittee’s role became more one of mendation to increase rates, and Denison-Pender Coat of Arms master than watch dog. This did advised against nationalising the JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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FEATURE not sit well with the directors, and they became divided into two camps, one led by John Cuthbert and the other

by Edward Wilshaw. Each camp had its own approach to the problem of the role of the Advisory Committee. On 30 October 1935, a secret meeting was held with the objective of a hostile take-over, the removal of the Denison-Pender camp and the abolition of the Advisory Committee. This plan never came to fruition, and it appears that John Cuthbert was never aware of it.

In his own way, John Cuthbert continued to challenge what he saw as the interference of the Advisory Committee, but his attitude and lifestyle did not sit well with the Conservative Government under Stanley Baldwin (18671947). By Easter 1936, the Government was running out of patience, and John Cuthbert was called to a meeting with Sir Norman Fenwick Warren Fisher (1879-1948), permanent Secretary to the Treasury and Head of the Home Civil Service. The meeting took place at the Treasury, where John Cuthbert was told that the Government could no longer support him in the position of Chairman of Cable &Wireless Ltd. The notes of this meeting record the possibility that John Cuthbert might be granted a baronetcy, but it was stressed that such an honour would not be linked to his agreeing to step down. After much political manoeuvring and in-fighting, on 24 June 1936 John Cuthbert stood down as Chairman of Cable & Wireless Ltd but remained on its Board of Directors; he also retained his positions as Governor and Joint Managing Director of Cable & Wireless (Holdings) Ltd. He was succeeded as Chairman

by Edward Wilshaw (1879-1968) and John Jocelyn was promoted to General Manager of Cable & Wireless Ltd, replacing Wilshaw.

On 12 July 1937, John Cuthbert Denison-Pender was elevated to the peerage and created the first Baron Pender of Porthcurnow, the rank and title his grandfather had so craved. The coat of arms and motto Persevero were confirmed by royal seal on 10 March 1938. The conferring of this peerage appears to have been part of a package linked to the agreement reached with the Government for John Cuthbert to step down from the chairmanship of Cable & Wireless Ltd, and at the same time to protect and advance John Jocelyn’s position within the company.

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Edward Wilshaw was 56 when he became Chairman of Cable & Wireless Ltd, one year beyond the Company’s normal retirement age, but he had agreed to stay on to work closely with the Advisory Committee and bring the Company out of recession. This was to prove a difficult task, as by 1936 the Company’s development of radio communications was far behind where it should have been.

This was blamed on the constraints and obligations set out in the 1928 Treasury Agreement, requiring the Company to maintain all its submarine cables for strategic purposes, while the Government retained the monopoly on overseas radio telephony. British radio communications were well behind those of Nazi Germany, where radio development had advanced much quicker. In terms of Imperial communications, cables were secure from spying but could be cut and diverted, whereas radio signals could be overheard, but they could not be diverted and were not that easy to jam effectively.

At this time, the Colonial Governments were beginning to go their own way in setting up state-owned radio systems, further reducing Cable & Wireless’s revenues. A solution was needed, so on 1 March 1938, the Government cancelled the twenty-five year Beam Radio Rental Contract, due to run until 1953, and handed over all the assets to the Company, in exchange for £2.6M shares in Cable & Wireless. For the first time, the British Government now held an equity stake in Cable & Edward Wilshaw 1935 Wireless. Additionally, the operating licences granted to the Company by the Post Office in 1928 were extended to 1963. All this was embodied in the Imperial Telegraphs Act 1938, which came into force just in time for the ‘Munich Crisis’ that year.

At the outbreak of World War Two, Cable & Wireless operated in 146 locations around the world, and initially the British Government was content to leave the management of Imperial Communications in the hands of the Company. To demonstrate their support for Edward Wilshaw in his role as Chairman, he was knighted KCMG in December 1939. It was immediately recognised that the Company’s radio stations were vulnerable to enemy bombing raids, a fact that reinforced the importance of maintaining cable communications. However, it was not until the fall of France and the success of Operation Dynamo (26

majority acceptance. The result of May – 4 June 1940) that work began this trip was a White Paper called on ‘The Tunnel’ at Porthcurno, a the ‘Canberra Proposals.’ On 24 June, bombproof suite of offices, equipment Wilshaw chaired what would be the rooms and a generator room dug into last Cable & Wireless Annual Generthe cliffs; it went into operation on 31 al Meeting, at which the shareholders May 1941. agreed to sell the entire Marconi’s It is not intended to cover any furWireless Telegraph Co share capital ther the second world war exploits of to English Electric for £3,750,000.

Cable & Wireless in this article, but From July to October, Reith’s recif readers are interested in this part ommendations were debated by the of the story, they should seek out The British and Dominion Governments Thin Red Lines by Charles Graves, and on 1 November 1945, the Cable published in 1949. & Wireless Act received royal assent.

In 1943, Sir Edward Wilshaw apIt was then announced in the House proached John Charles Walsham Reof Commons, on 19 December, that ith (1889-1971) to become a director Sir Stanley Angwin c. 1947 Cable & Wireless Ltd would be taken of Cable & Wireless Co Ltd. Lord into public ownership on 1 January Reith had been Director General of 1947. the BBC until 1938 and in 1940 had Under the Act, the Court of Dibeen appointed Minister of Inforrectors was reduced to five, all chosen mation under Arthur Neville Chamby the Government to serve under a berlain (1869-1940), but he had been new Chairman, Sir Stanley Angwin dismissed from his post in 1942. As (1883-1959). During the war years was required, Reith’s appointment the relationship between Wilshaw was approved by the Government, and Campbell Stuart had deteriorated and his first task was to examine the significantly and Stuart had finally working relationship between the had him removed, although Wilshaw Company’s directors and the Advisoremained Governor of Cable & ry Committee. He concluded that too Wireless (Holdings). By that time, much power had been vested in the this company was little more than an Chairman of the Advisory Commitinvestment trust. All the Company’s tee, Sir Campbell Stuart (1885-1972). assets and operations in the UK were In April 1944, a new Commontransferred to the Post Office, and the wealth Communications Council met Post Office also took on the role of in London, at which the formation negotiating concessions with Dominof a government-owned public utility corporation in the UK and the DoJohn Jocelyn Denison-Pender 1958 by Edward Irvine Halliday ion Governments. However, during minions was mooted. One month lat(1902-84) the first half of the 20th century, the structure of the British Empire had er, on his sixty-second birthday, John changed due to the increasing self-governance of its terriCuthbert retired. His son John Jocelyn Denison-Pender tories. This had first been formally recognised as the ‘British was appointed Joint Managing Director of Cable & Commonwealth of Nations’ in the Balfour Declaration of Wireless Ltd and a Director of Cable & Wireless (Hold1926 and formalised through ‘The Statute of Westminster’ ings) Ltd, while Sir Edward Wilshaw became its Governor in 1931. In 1949, the current Commonwealth of Nations and Managing Director. Negotiations with the overseas was established through the ‘London Declaration’, under Governments had reached an impasse, and so Lord Reith which all 54 member states are ‘free and equal’. was asked to undertake a mission to resolve the situation.

So, what was left of the pre-war Company? It still He accepted the challenge, and in January 1945, having managed the largest part of the Commonwealth overseas resigned his directorship, he set out on a 45,000-mile tour telegraph system, and as such was the largest single entity of the Dominions to develop a modified scheme that had JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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FEATURE engaged in international telegraphy in the world.

In the UK, it owned the Porthcurno cable station and the training school, plus the short land routes to the eleven telegraph cables that landed there.

These connected to a global network of 155,000nm of submarine cable. In addition, it operated a fleet of eight repair ships based in various locations around the world. Based on this structure and these assets, the Company was struggling to cover overheads, so a long-term plan was needed.

Angwin had been with the Post Office since 1907 and was well known at New Electra House. He had also accompanied Reith on his tour of the Dominions; however, the Chairman’s role was only a part-time position and many people thought that he had only been brought in to preside over the Company’s demise. The real control of the Government-owned Company was vested in the Managing Director, and this post was filled by John Innes, a Post Office Engineer who specialised in telephony.

John Jocelyn was relegated to the role of Deputy Managing Director but succeeded his father as the 2nd Baron on John Cuthbert’s death on 4 December 1949. At the end of March, the following year, John Innes retired and was succeeded by Major-General Leslie Burtonshaw Nicolls (1895-1975) ex Royal Corp of Signals. This left the aging Wilshaw (now effectively side-lined) and John Jocelyn as the only members of senior management with experience of running the submarine cable business. Wilshaw was then

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seventy-one, so much of the day-to-day work fell on the shoulders of John Jocelyn. He retained this role as Deputy Managing Director under four Government-appointed Chairmen of Cable & Wireless Ltd: Stanley Angwin until 1951, then Leslie Nicholls until 1954, Sir Godfrey Ince (1891-1960) until his death in December 1960, and Sir John Stuart Macpherson (1898-1971) from 1962. In 1958, John Mercury House 1955 Jocelyn became the sole Managing Director of Cable & Wireless (Holdings) and the following year he became Managing Director of the Globe Telegraph & Trust Co. That same year, his portrait became the fourth of the Pender family portraits to be hung in the “Directors’ Court Room” at New Electra House.

The Cable & Wireless (Holdings) Court Room, New Electra House 1979

After his removal as head of the operating company, Edward Wilshaw had become a peripheral figure. He had remained Governor of Cable & Wireless (Holdings) and had insisted on retaining the Company’s flat in Arundel House as his residence. However, in June 1964, on reaching his 85th birthday, he finally retired, and John Jocelyn became Governor in his place. He did not hold this position for long because he died at his London flat on 31 March 1965, aged just fifty-eight. His death was effectively the end of the Denison-Pender family control of the Cable & Wireless group of companies as, under Government ownership, his eldest son John Willoughby (1933-2016), the 3rd Baron Pender of Porthcurnow, was not to rise to any of the senior management positions that his forebears had attained.

Having completed his National Service at the beginning of 1954, John Willoughby joined a London firm of stockbrokers. After eighteen months he was sent out to Canada for a year, and on his return, in the summer of 1956, he joined the staff of C&W (Holdings), moving from one department to another to gain experience of the business. He then went to work for his father, and in 1960 he was appointed to the Board of Directors.

At the end of 1955, Cable & Wireless once again moved its headquarters, leaving New Electra House for Mercury House in Theobalds Road, London WC. As with Winchester House, two of the floors became the HQ of Telcon, where the 1864 portrait of John Pender (see the May Issue) hung until Telcon merged with BICC in 1959. It was then given to John Jocelyn by Sir John Dean, the Chairman of Telcon. The investment trust, Cable & Wireless (Holdings), and the Court Room remained at New Electra House, along with the Post Office Overseas Telecommunications Executive.

During this period of the Company’s history, two major technological advancements would change the shape of global telecommunications. During the 1950s, the introduction of polyethylene-insulated coaxial cables for submarine systems, together with the development of extremely reliable thermionic valves (vacuum tubes), enabled the first submarine telephone cable across the Atlantic. This was called Transatlantic Telephone One (TAT-1) and went into service in 1956, ninety years after the first successful Atlantic Telegraph. With the success of TAT-1, Cable &

Wireless began planning a global network of transoceanic telephone cables, known collectively as the ‘Commonwealth Cables’. These would introduce two British inventions that are now standard practice in the submarine cable industry: lightweight cable and rigid bi-directional repeaters. For more detailed information on the Commonwealth Cables, see Back Reflection, Issue 76, May 2014. In parallel with the first Commonwealth cable, CANTAT, an 80 x 3khz telephone channel cable, connecting the UK with Canada, New Jersey – Bermuda, owned jointly by Cable & Wireless and AT&T, went into service in 1962. Cable & Wireless had finally entered the world of international voice communications and transoceanic telephony, via submarine cables.

The second technical innovation was satellite commu-

The Cable King Exhibition at PK Porthcurno

nications. The 1962 launch of communications satellites Telstar and Relay was the start of real competition for long-distance radio and cable telephony. Then, in 1963, the first successful geosynchronous communications satellite, Syncom II, was launched. On 6 April 1965, the first commercial communications satellite, INTELSAT 1 (Early Bird) was launched with a capacity of 240 x 3khz voice channels or one television channel. Cable & Wireless’s first involvement with this program was to provide its first earth station on Ascension Island to support NASA in the US Apollo space missions. Apart from the C&W ground station Ascension also hosted the US Air Force, with its JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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FEATURE until 1990. As part of the restructuring of the Company, Apollo Range Instrumentation Aircraft (ARIA). These New Electra House was no longer required, and as a result, were specially equipped Boeing 707s that flew from the the four portraits from the Court Room were moved to the Island’s base to track the Apollo (and other) space craft.

Despite the fact that subsea cables offered a better quali- Company archive in Mercury House.

With privatisation, there was less need for a hereditary ty of service, with no perceivable delay or echo and infinitely better security, satellites offered significantly more capac- peer among the directors, and so Cable & Wireless plc and John Willoughby parted company. It appears, that around ity and a cheaper service. This put pressure on the subsea this time, a decision was taken to retain the 1889 portrait of cable industry, and by the mid-1970s satellite systems had the founding chairman, and the other three portraits were become the dominant service for transoceanic telephony. given to John Willoughby. The 1889 portrait is currently By the end of the 1960s submarine telegraph cables had become obsolete, and in 1971 the Porthcurno Cable Station on display at PK Porthcurno, as part of ‘The Cable King Exhibition. was closed. The Cable & Wireless College remained there Though John Willoughby remained immensely proud of until 1993 when it was moved to Coventry. Around the his family’s contribution to the Company, then in his fifties, same time, the museum in Mercury House, that had been he focussed the remainder of his workopened by John Willoughby in July ing life on his stockbroker career in 1979, was closed and the archive was the City of London, and his ‘Duty’ as a moved to Porthcurno. However, it was member of the House of Lords. not until May 1998 that the Telegraph Under the new liberalisation of Museum at Porthcurno opened its telecommunications in the UK, Cable doors to the public and, since that time, & Wireless launched a subsidiary, it has provided visitors with a unique Mercury Communications Ltd, a joint insight into the history of the unsung venture with Barclay’s Bank and Britindustry that is submarine telecommuish Petroleum, to compete with British nications. PK Porthcurno, as the muTelecom, mainly in the area of long seum is now called, has won multiple distance and business communications. awards over the years, and is officially In 1984, Cable & Wireless acquired recognised for the national and interHong Kong Telephone, and in a renational significance of its historic colstructuring in 1988 this became Hong lections with “Designated Outstanding” Kong Telecom. In 1986, the submarine status from Arts Council England.

John Willoughby Denison-Pender (1933-2016) cable Telephone Era came to end, and By 1972, the largest part of Cable the technology of choice for subma& Wireless’s operations was in Hong Kong, where the international telecommunications services rine cables became fibre optics. This heralded a change in the structure of international telecommunications. During provided 88% of the Company’s profits. Over the next few most of the 20th century, the vast majority of international years many of its early concessions around the world began operators were government-owned entities, but in the 1980s to lapse, and by 1978, the Company had moved into niche many of them were privatised and, in submarine cables. the markets, electronic systems for hotels, security systems, concept of the “Carriers’ Carrier” was born. In 1988, the marine telex, and, under the largest contract in its history, first Atlantic fibre optic system, known as TAT-8, went into communications systems for the Saudi Arabian National service between England, France and the USA. Guard.

Sir Eric Sharp was a man of vision on a similar scale to 1979 marked the Silver Jubilee of Cable & Wireless, and John Pender, and he saw an opportunity in the new liberin May that year Margaret Hilda Thatcher (1925-2013) alised telecommunications environment, so he set out to became Prime Minister. This would lead to the re-privatibuild a private ‘global digital highway,’ circling the world, sation of Cable & Wireless, in November 1981. Initially, based on fibre optic cables. This plan resulted in two transthe Government sold 49% of the Company’s shares, but by oceanic systems, of which the first, PTAT-1, went from 1985 all the shares had passed into private hands, with the England to the USA with spurs to Ireland and Bermuda exception of a ‘Golden Share’ retained by the Government. and was completed in 1989. The second ran from Oregon Sir Eric Sharp (1916-1994) was made the first Chairman in the USA to Japan with a spur to Alaska; this system was and Chief Executive of Cable & Wireless plc, a role he held

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called the North Pacific Cable (NPC) and went into service in 1991 (see Back Reflection, Issue 85. November 2015.

By the time these cables were operational, Eric Sharp had been replaced by Lord David Young (b.1932) as Executive Chairman, a position he held until his retirement in 1995.

During Young’s tenure, Cable & Wireless entered several new markets around the world as a second-tier player. In 1993, in partnership with US West, they launched Mercury One2One, providing mobile services in the UK. Then there was Optus in Australia and Tele2 in Sweden, and several smaller companies. Cable & Wireless was in danger of spreading its portfolio too thinly, and competition everywhere was hitting the bottom line. These problems led to infighting between CEO James H. Ross (b. 1940) and Lord Young, which resulted in an extraordinary decision by the Board of Directors to fire both of them. This was announced on 21 November 1995. The Board took until May 1996 to appoint an American, Richard Brown (b.1945) as the new Chairman, but this choice did not sit well with the City of London, and he only lasted 18 months. In 1997, China took back control of Hong Kong, which added to the Company’s difficult financial position, as it was forced to sell its stake in Hong Kong Telecom to a Chinese company. By then Cable & Wireless had taken a 53% stake in a new joint venture company, Cable & Wireless Communications Cable & Wireless plc survived as a single entity until 2010, when it was once again split into two companies, C&W Worldwide Ltd and C&W Communications Ltd. C&W’s global submarine cable interests were vested in C&W Worldwide and were sold to Vodafone in July 2012.

Cable & Wireless Communications was acquired by Liberty Global plc in 2016. These two companies can trace their roots back to the Eastern Telegraph Co, founded by John Pender 150 years ago, on 1 June 1872. Initially under John Pender, and then by his descendants, it was built into the world’s largest telecommunications company. However, it is our belief that very few people working for the present two companies, or the industry as a whole, are aware of this unique and complex history. We hope we have gone some way to rectifying that in these two articles!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank Charlie Foreman for his personal recollections of life on Ascension during the Apollo Missions; Harry Pender for permission to use the images of his family in this article and in particular, the portraits of John Cuthbert Denison-Pender and John Jocelyn Denison-Pender that are now on long-term loan at PK Porthcurno. The images of the portraits of John Cuth-

bert Denison-Pender and John Jocelyn Denison-Pender are provided courtesy of PK Porthcurno – Museum of Global Telecommunications. The PK Porthcurno Online Collections are now available at: https://pkoc.co.uk STF BILL BURNS is an English electronics engineer who worked for the BBC in London after graduation before moving to New York in 1971. There he spent a number of years in the high-end audio industry, during which time he wrote many audio, video, and computer equipment reviews, along with magazine articles on subjects as diverse as electronic music instruments and the history of computing. His research for these articles led to a general interest in early technology, and in the 1980s he began collecting instruments and artifacts from the fields of electricity and communications. In 1994 a chance find of a section of the 1857 Atlantic cable inspired a special interest in undersea cable history, and soon after he set up the first version of the Atlantic Cable website <https://atlantic-cable. com>, which now has over a thousand pages on all aspect of undersea communications from 1850 until the present.

Bill’s interest in cable history has taken him to all of the surviving telegraph cable stations around the world, and to archives and museums in North America and Europe. He has presented papers on subsea cable history at a number of conferences, and in 2008 he instigated and helped organize the 150th Anniversary Celebration for the 1858 Atlantic cable at the New-York Historical Society. Most recently, in 2016 he was involved with the celebrations in London, Ireland and Newfoundland to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1866 Atlantic cable.

Since graduating in 1970, STEWART ASH has spent his entire career in the submarine cable industry. He joined STC Submarine Systems as a development engineer, working on coaxial transmission equipment and submarine repeater design. He then transferred onto field engineering, installing coaxial submarine cable systems around the world, attaining the role of Shipboard Installation Manager. In 1986, he set up a new installation division to install fibre optic submarine systems. In 1993, he joined Cable & Wireless Marine, as a business development manager and then move to an account director role responsible for, among others the parent company, C&W. When Cable & Wireless Marine became Global Marine Systems Ltd in 1999, he became General Manager of the engineering division, responsible for system testing, jointing technology and ROV operation. As part of this role, he was chairman of the UJ Consortium. He left Global Marine in 2005 to become an independent consultant, assisting system purchasers and owners in all aspects of system procurement, operations, maintenance and repair.

Stewart’s interest in the history of submarine cables began in 2000, when he project managed a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the submarine cable industry. As part of this project, he co-authored and edited From Elektron to ‘e’ Commerce. Since then, he has written and lectured extensively on the history of the submarine cable industry. From March 2009 to November 2015, he wrote Back Reflection articles for SubTel Forum. In 2013 he was invited to contribute the opening chapter to Submarine Cables: The Handbook of Law and Policy, which covered the early development of the submarine cable industry. To support the campaign to save Enderby House—a Grade II listed building—from demolition, in 2015 he wrote two books about the history of the Telcon site at Enderby Wharf on the Greenwich Peninsula in London. The first was The Story of Subsea Telecommunications and its Association with Enderby House, and the second was The Eponymous Enderby’s of Greenwich. His biography of Sir John Pender GCMG The Cable King was published by Amazon in April 2018.

REFERENCES A Century of Service, Cable & Wireless Ltd 1868-1968, K C Baglehole; Anchor Brendon Ltd Tiptree, Essex 1969 Girdle Round the Earth, Hugh Barty-King: William Heinemann London 1979 The Cable King, the life of John Pender, Stewart Ash, Amazon 2018

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FEATURE

CLIENT REPRESENTATION Ensuring Value and the Best Outcomes for the Client

BY HECTOR HERNANDEZ AND GLENN HOVERMALE OVERVIEW

I

n our industry one of the most important phases for the implementation of a Submarine Cable System, is the installation of the system. Ensuring the installation is conducted professionally, safely and in accordance with the Purchaser’s technical specifications are the most critical aspects to consider as a purchaser/system operator.

To this point, it is vital for system purchasers to provide Client Representation to observe, report and document the installation process. Client Representation is not simply a few personnel on the vessels, it is a team the includes infield Client Representatives paired with in-office Marine Coordinator, Technical Experts and travel logistics and accounting administration support.

WFN has provided these services for more than 20 years, which continue to be a primary focus for our business. We go to great lengths to ensure our team has deep technical knowledge, experienced and highly motivated to pursue quality work with a great attitude, which we believe is key to ensure our clients enjoy the best experience and value for this effort.

This article is intended to provide some insight to the

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process of Client Representation and its complexity, while illustrating the value. The following describes daily reporting, the role of the Marine Coordinator and other various associated activities.

CLIENT REPRESENTATIVE DAILY PROGRESS REPORTING

The System Supplier provides daily progress reports (DPR) during the marine survey and installation operations. The Client Representative reviews any such Daily Reports related to marine activities and provides feedback to the supplier, if necessary, or accepts the report. The Client Representative notifies the Client’s Project Manager on a real time basis of any issues or disputes arising from the Daily Reports, along with an assessment of the situation. The Client Representative also produces a DPR exclusively for the Client, for the purpose of keeping its own record of any weather down time, transit during route survey, issues and document any activity that veers from the agreed commercial baseline for judgement against Supplier’s claim for any marine activities related contract variation. The Client Representative summarizes the daily reports and prepares a weekly report for the Client.

Client Representation covers every aspect of the installation process including: 1. Route/In-shore/ Burial assessment surveys 2. Finalization of Cable System cable route 3. Route clearance 4. Cable loading 5. Main lay and shore end installations 6. HDD construction phases 7. Post lay burial & inspection

The Client Representative is responsible to observe and report with a duty to escalate immediately to the Client any issues or concerns that are out of specification, unsafe to personnel and/or the environment.

The Client Representative is responsible to observe and report with a duty to escalate immediately to the Client any issues or concerns that are out of specification, unsafe to personnel and/or the environment. At the end of operation or marine activity, the Client Representative reviews each Final Report, providing a professional assessment to the Client for further comments.

WFN’s Client Representative then uploads the Daily Progress Report (DPR) to our PM 2.0 Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

MARINE COORDINATION OPERATIONAL OVERSIGHT

The Marine Coordinator is responsible for overseeing all marine activities, scheduling, and collaboration between the Supplier and Client as required. The Marine Coordinator’s primary focus is to ensure Client Representation is conducted with a high-level of efficiency, consistency, and quality.

The Marine Coordinator monitors and documents all notable events associated with all the following activities in the Operations Log to the PM 2.0 Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

PERMITTING AND CABLE CROSSINGS

The Marine Coordinator oversees, along with the Client Representative that all marine operations and cable crossings are conducted in accordance with the proper permitting and crossing agreements. They work with the Supplier to ensure all necessary operational permits and cable crossing agreements are in place and that proper notifications are provided, per the permits and crossing agreements.

The Marine Coordinator then uploads all Permit and Cable Crossing related documents for review and as a record to the PM 2.0 Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

ISSUES NOTIFICATION

The primary responsibility of the Marine Coordinator and Client Representatives is to notify the Client as soon as possible of any issues or concerns arising from marine re-

lated activities that deviate from the commercial agreement, jeopardize personnel safety, environmental safety and is not in the best interest of the Client.

MARINE WORKING GROUP SUPPORT

The Marine Coordinator attends MWG meetings, on invitation as required by Client, to support the Client with the review and responses to the Suppliers reporting and proposals based on observations and knowledge of the related marine works. The MWG oversees each phase of the system installation and proposes adjustments based on real time information and discoveries during the specific operations.

The Marine Coordinator then uploads the MWG Meetings Log to the PM 2.0 Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

OTHER CRITICAL ACTIVITIES

The previous sections addressed the primary areas of concern at a higher level. The following items are more detailed activities that are just as critical, each inherent with risks to the system installation and possibly with long-term implications to the system performance over time.

CABLE LOAD-OUT DAILY PROGRESS REPORT

The Client Representative accomplishes the Cable Load-out Daily Progress Report to ensure that the cable is handled and stowed in accordance with the Supplier’s specifications for the cable.

The Client Representative joins the Cableship prior to the commencement of loading of the cable. The Client Representatives observes the cable loading operations to assure that the cable is handled and stowed in accordance with the Supplier’s specifications for the cable. The Client Representatives is available on a 24-hour basis to observe the cable loading operation; nominally on 12-hour day shifts basis. However, should cable loading extend beyond twelve hours; the Client Representatives is on call during the next twelve hours in case Supplier experiences an event during the load which requires the Client Representative’s observation. The Client Representative then uploads the Cable Load-out Daily Progress Report to the PM 2.0 JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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FEATURE Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

CABLE LOAD-OUT C-OTDR TEST REPORT

The Client Representative accomplishes a Cable Load-out C-OTDR Test Report to identify any deficiencies discovered after reviewing the pre- and post-load C-OTDR testing of the Supplier’s specifications for the cable and documented for future reference in a single summary document.

The Client Representative then uploads the Cable Load-out C-OTDR Test Report to the PM 2.0 Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

CABLE LOAD-OUT SUMMARY REPORT

The Client Representative accomplishes a Cable Loadout Summary Report to ensure that the cable is handled and stowed in accordance with the Supplier’s specifications for the cable and documented for future reference in a single summary document. The Client Representative then uploads the Cable Load-out Summary Report to the PM 2.0 Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

CABLESHIP DAILY PROGRESS REPORT

The Client Representative provides a Daily Progress Report to highlight installation activities with daily frequency.

The Client Representative is on board the Cableship to observe the installation operations on behalf of Client.

The Client Representatives are responsible to ensure that Supplier conducts the installation operations in line with the agreed/published procedures, and adequate records are taken to ensure that a sufficiently detailed report can be compiled for future maintenance purposes. Also, that the installation is conducted in such a way as to ensure the long-term reliability of the system.

The Client Representatives provides a report documenting observations made during the load and lay operations.

The Client Representative then uploads the Daily Progress Report to the PM 2.0 Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

CABLE ROUTING REVIEW REPORT

The Client Representative provides a Cable Routing Review Report to provide a simple, illustrative single page review of the cumulative installation progress, highlighting segments installed and their respective percentage complete.

The Client Representative then uploads the Cable Routing Review Report to the PM 2.0 Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

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MARINE INSTALLATION REVIEW REPORT

The Client Representative provides to the MWG members a Marine Installation Review Report reviewing the marine installation accomplished by the Supplier. He/she reviews Supplier’s marine installation activities and provide feedback to the Client Project Manager. The prime objective of the Marine Installation Review Report is to ensure that the marine installation is adequate for future maintenance of the system.

The Client Representative then uploads the Marine Installation Review Report to the PM 2.0 Cable System Dashboard for the purpose of distribution, retrieval, and archiving.

CONCLUSION

Effective Client Representation is crucial. At every phase of the installation there are risks of damage to the cable and system components. The damage can be small, and seem irrelevant, but as they accumulate and depending on the depth of the damage it could affect the performance of the system over time. Meaning if these incidents are not observed, documented, and corrected the system purchased, installed, and accepted today may experience performance degradation or faults in the future with no commercial or legal options to mitigate or recoup a commercial loss.

Therefore, it is critical for Submarine System Purchasers to provide their own qualified Client Representation to best protect their investment and commercial interest. STF HECTOR HERNANDEZ is Projects Director of WFN Strategies and a Project Management Professional (PMP™) specialist and possesses more than 20 years’ experience and knowledge in submarine cable systems, including Arctic and offshore Oil & Gas submarine fiber systems. He possesses extensive experience in ICT (Information & Communications Technology), including data networking/hosting (Data Centers), information technologies, fiber optic and wireless networks/services. As Projects Director, he is responsible for on-going project supervision of applicable WFN Strategies staff and is the primary point of contact with customers.

Business disciplines include program/project management, planning, engineering, product development and operational experience. Strengths include developing, managing and leading multi-functional teams (strong soft skills); problem solving under pressure, quality assurance, risk management and effective communications across all business units, including executive management and clients. He is founded on Total Quality Management and continuous improvement, utilizing Waterfall, Agile, PMI and mixed project management methodologies to align company resources and achieve strategic goals. He is the former Program Manager for the Quintillion Subsea Cable implementation, and is an American citizen based in San Antonio, Texas USA. GLENN HOVERMALE is Construction & Marine Coordinator at WFN Strategies with more than 20 years of consulting experience in undersea cables, including marine survey, Oil & Gas and offshore wind industries. He has held client representative, offshore project management, and survey positions, and he possesses experience working aboard SubCom, Alcatel, Korea Telecom, and Global Marine cable ships as well as Fugro and EGS survey vessels.

STAY CURRENT

play for offshore wind.

Climate Change

While the telecom industry has been operating for quite some time and has made significant advances in our knowledge of benthic marine environments, climate change is one issue that we will have to face in conjunction with all offshore maritime industries and the wider world. The push for projects concerning environmental monitoring and communications is spreading throughout the industry, with a current focus on issues relating to marine megafauna and fisheries targets. Initiatives such as SMART cables and similar monitoring systems in offshore wind will go a long way towards narrowing existing knowledge gaps and ensuring that we have lengthy and reliable data records as our seas undergo this period of immense change.

As mentioned previously, interdisciplinary initiatives such as ROSA will be integral in encouraging data sharing and data tracking as some common fisheries and conservation target species exhibit spatial and temporal distribution shifts. By working together, industry and local stakeholders can broaden our collective knowledge of how the oceans around us will be impacted by climate change related phenomena. As such, we can hope to mitigate issues to the best of our abilities and focus on nurturing sustainable growth of both telecom and offshore wind industries, keeping the world connected and providing reliable sources of clean, renewable wind energy. Similarly, collective knowledge on natural system faults, both for subsea cables and offshore wind infrastructure, will contribute to our understanding of how best to shift future engineering and operation innovations to cope with an increase in strength and frequency of inclement weather events and other climatic factors.

Summary

community buy-in and long term success of these installations.

In the past century and a half, humans have come to understand a significant amount about our oceans and how they function. Through the course of hundreds of subsea cable installations, the telecom industry has been at the forefront of uncovering benthic knowledge. Our understanding of seafloor hydrology, shifting sediments, ecological interactions, and even earthquakes and tsunamis has greatly increased. By taking what we have learned and applying it to the burgeoning offshore wind industry, we can best position ourselves to reap the rewards of an extensive renewables network while mitigating social, environmental, and ecological impacts. We have extensive local fisheries and communities networks, professional guard vessels and crews, broad knowledge of the marine environmental and applicable requirements and legislation, and, above all, we have a vision for long-term, sustainable success in harnessing our renewable natural resources for clean energy. To our partners in the offshore wind industry— we are ready and willing to help you reach your goals.

Emma Martin is the Marine Systems Associate at Seagard. She has her BA in Biology from Boston University, USA and her MSc in Marine Systems and Policies from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

She has performed marine field work around the world and looks forward to continuing to support maritime infrastructure developments.

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Throughout both industries, a common theme is the importance of early and continued stakeholder engagement. “We stand by the idea that stakeholder engagement and outreach with other maritime users and operators is incredibly important,” Ryan Wopschall, ICPC GM states, “Raising awareness of subsea cables within the offshore renewable energy sector and encouraging developers and stakeholders to contact us in regard to new and ongoing projects will further facilitate safe and efficient use of marine resources and long-term protection of seabed infrastructure.” All marine users must be considered throughout project development, and these considerations, alongside those of public perceptions, will help to pave the way for

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SubTelForum JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

53

FEATURE

THE AFRICAN INTERNET CONNECTIVITY JOURNEY IS ON ITS PATH TO GLOBAL ECONOMIC SUCCESS

BY DAVID EURIN

A

fricans are getting ready to take over the world. This may not be a sentiment the developed world tends to agree with, but it is time to acknowledge the facts.

Around 17% of the world’s population reside in Africa and according to an article by the World Economic Forum, the urban population of Africa is expected to nearly triple by 2050.

Couple this with the fact that Africa sports the world’s youngest and fastest-urbanising population and you have got yourself a recipe for growth. But what’s stopping them from taking their rightful place in the world economy?

The answer to this question is obviously complicated and full of history and nuance, but I would argue that one

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structural obstacle still stands firm in the way of Africa’s economic metamorphosis. There is not just enough of Internet connectivity.

The World Bank posits that the digital economy forms 15.5% of global GDP, which is growing two and a half times faster than global GDP over the past 15 years. Research reveals that a simple 10% increase in mobile broadband penetration in Africa would result in an increase of 2.5% of GDP per capita.

According to the UN’s International Telecommunication Union, Africa is home to approximately 700 million of the world’s 3.7 billion unconnected people. As we ourselves experience every day (think what happens if your Internet

access does not work this morning?), if one cannot connect to a digital economy, they cannot access the opportunity of growth.

As we enter a post-pandemic age, where physical presence is no longer synonym of effort and value-add, developing countries (and continents) are going to need the right tools and environments to enable economic momentum. On that front, there is a lot of progress being made.

At Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a business of Cassava Technologies, we have seen demand for bandwidth increase exponentially in Africa by at least 50% year-on-year – doubling every 18 months, faster than anywhere else. The cost of connectivity is decreasing rapidly (almost everywhere) and access to basic internet is increasing.

Analysts continue to highlight the rapid growth in intra-African network traffic. Yet, there is also a wealth of sub-sea cable capacity coming into the continent over the next few years (e.g., Equiano, 2Africa, PEACE cables and others). This will bring the total available capacity to over hundreds of terabits across the oceans around Africa. It follows that this capacity needs to be dispersed across the continent, linking data centres together and bringing service to every building and home. This creates a symbiotic relationship between seacables, a secure, reliable, and capable fibre network and even satellite dishes.

These are attractive metrics for investors, although success really depends on how Africans are enabled through service provision to ensure they can create competitive offerings in the market like mobile money and insurance.

At the end of the trading day, basic internet is only the beginning of the story.

Getting cables to remote regions is a challenge, and once you get connectivity to a region, network access tends to come at a fixed cost.

In the connectivity game, higher capacity requirements create constant downward pressure on unit cost. This is the defining characteristic of success in the connectivity market.

But this isn’t always easy to achieve. The less people who use the internet in a region, the more they need to pay to use it. Those are unfortunate economics on the surface but dig deeper and you’ll find that value often outweighs cost when it comes to connectivity – even in developing countries.

Although, you’ll find that it isn’t the ability to connect with the world that really revs the local economic engine, but the ability to connect with other people, businesses, villages, cities and regions in the country – trading, communicating

and seizing opportunities to develop themselves, their businesses, and their national economy.

As we continue to bridge the connectivity gap in Africa, eventually reaching levels seen only in developed economies, we will no doubt witness an exponential boom in GDP and productivity. Alongside this will come improvements in health conditions and education opportunities. In time, and with the right attitude, it is connectivity that provides the spark to reduce poverty and promote economic and social success.

Analysts continue to highlight the rapid growth in intra-African network traffic. Yet, there is also a wealth of sub-sea cable capacity coming into the continent over the next few years (e.g., Equiano, 2Africa, PEACE cables and others). This will bring the total available capacity to over hundreds of terabits across the oceans around Africa.

We have seen it in African economic powerhouses like South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, but more corners of the continent are about to light up as they join the connectivity chorus. The value of the internet will continue to spread across the continent as we turn tens of millions into hundreds of millions of connected Africans.

We know that technology favours youth, and with such a young population, there is no telling what this continent is capable of as they find African solutions to African (and likely global) problems. Come and watch, and connect. STF DAVID EURIN, CEO of Liquid Dataport, is responsible for developing the international connectivity business and submarine cable investments at Liquid Intelligent Technologies. Under his strategic guidance, the organisation has completed three digital corridors that connect East to West Africa and developed partnerships to expand Liquid’ reach across Africa. He is also instrumental in Liquid’s growing investment in links between Africa and other international markets like Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

He joined Liquid in 2013 and, as Chief Strategy Officer, has been responsible for the organisation’s expansion strategy - which combines organic growth with strategic acquisitions, debt and equity fundraising, and partnerships across the continent. He helped grow the company’s revenue three-fold and supported Liquid’s bond debt funding and several additional equity rounds with global investors.

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55

FEATURE

GROOMING MIDDLE EAST CABLERS TO MEET ULTRA HIGH-SPEED FO CHALLENGES

BY GREG VARISCO AND SHAHEEN QAMAR

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L

owering cost per unit of capacity is the goal while finding ways to increase both the security and reliability of the network. This article is meant to focus on the optical design considerations using the most advanced methods, including utilization of space-division multiplexing (SDM) on our inter-regional fiber routes from Europe and across the Middle East to Near Asia (India) spanning distances of < 9,000 km. The route required we integrate the optical design of both the submarine and terrestrial segments to ensure sufficient optical signal to noise ration (OSNR) margin is maintained for the non-regenerated, end-to-end digital line segments (DLS).

Current technologyies require the use of pure silica core, large effective area, and ultra-low loss (ULL) fiber optic cable (FOC) both in the wet (subsea) and dry (terrestrial) segments of the network. While SDM employs more fibers to achieve a higher capacity system, the packaging of more ULL fiber pairs within the same diameter cable raises bending loss concerns, especially on the terrestrial segments. Then stretching amplified spans lowers system costs in both the submarine and terrestrial segments, but lowers the spectral efficiency and system capacity.

Therefore, sufficient consideration must be given to many factors to not limit the reach (non-regenerated distance) and capacity (bandwidth) of an ultra-high speed, long distance network. Fiber attenuation is an inherent and important factor, which is largely mitigated by using non-doped Pure Silica Core (PSC) fibers exhibiting a loss of 0.153 – 0.156 dB/Km. The recent developments in the fiber’s (preform) manufacturing process and enhancement in the glass drawing process have further improved the PSC fiber loss to an unprecedented 0.148 – 0.150 dB/Km. Other limiting factors are Chromatic Dispersion (CD); the dispersion caused by light of different wavelengths, and the Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) caused by the polarization of orthogonal modes of light traversing in the fiber. Pulse broadening due to chromatic dispersion and the variation of fiber attenuation with wavelength used to be the real issues with DWDM; however, with the advent of coherent transmission, advanced modulation schemes, use of Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) both at the transmission and receiver end and advanced error correction schemes have increased fiber reach and throughput manifolds.

Our approach to improving things focused on the integration of the subsea and terrestrial segments, where generally the subsea fibers perform better because of both lower span losses and lower repeater noise figure (NF), which caused us to look for improvements in the terrestrial segments to get a better match.

GROOMING THE CABLERS

We worked closely with the renowned Cablers in the Middle East such as Middle East Fiber Company (MEFC), Riyadh Cable Group Company (RCGC), and Oman Fiber Optics (OFO) to construct and test FOC comprising of ULL fibers and to better understand the areas of improvement that could result in the better-installed performance both on fiber reach, capacity, and operational life perspectives. The FOC’s installed in the harsh desert environments in the Middle East also need special manufacturing consideration to conform to Outside Plant (OSP) installation practices in the region either installing FOC direct burial, trench & lay method, and by air-jet blowing through the duct systems.

We discussed our requirements to locally manufacture and test a sample TEAS FOC drum with the above three Cablers and also with the ULL fiber supplier from the USA. They all agreed to support our initiative to manufacture a Test Cable Drum in their respective factories using the ULL fibers. We had ULL terrestrial FOC of various types locally manufactured and have tested concatenated cable sections to simulate repeater span distances to better understand the impacts. We began to focus on several areas of improvement, increasing cable lengths on spools, without increasing spool diameters due to higher logistics costs, increasing section cable pull lengths thus reducing cable splices per span, and blowing outdoor fiber (both steel tape armored and double HDPE jacketed cables) through the metropolitan duct systems to reduce the number of fiber splices along a fiber span. Cablers are generally poised for certain cable spool sizes and cable lengths that reduce waste due to fiber spool lengths, which are generally supplied at 50 km. We discussed with the fiber supplier hand picking fiber spools of 50.4 Km lengths for up to 90% of the supply order to minimize wastage. Increasing pull lengths must consider cable tensile strength to withstand cable installation strains incurred by the plowing machines and manual JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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FEATURE pulling, macro-bending considerations to coil the cables inside the manholes and handholes, and a few other factors like installing the outdoor cables in the right of way under the OHTL (Overhead Transmission Line) and installing two fiber cables in the same trench at different depths to attain a vertical diversity.

The selected Cablers fully cooperated with Cinturion and its General Contractor BTC Networks in realizing this initiative. The FOC drums were manufactured by all three Cablers; however, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, only the fibers and cable testing could be realized with the Cablers in Saudi Arabia. Following is a walk-through of the BTC/Cinturion initiative to groom local Cablers to manufacture cost-effective ULL fiber cables using the local infrastructure resources, which could be deployed in TEAS and similar other projects and make them competitive as World-Class Cablers.

THE LARGE EFFECTIVE AREA – CUTOFF SHIFTED FIBER (LEA-CSF)

One of the fibers, which has raised serious interest in the minds of fiber optics designers of terrestrial networks is the Large Effective Area – Cutoff Shifted Fiber (LEACSF), which conforms to ITU-T G.654B/D/E recommendations. The G.654B/D Pure Silica Core (PSC) fibers specifically manufactured for submarine applications are used in the past; however, using a fiber made for submarine applications and planned to be for terrestrial applications poses many challenges. The ITU-T recommendation for terrestrial optimized PSC fiber are included in Table-E of ITU-T G.654, Nov-2016 publications and hence the name G.654E fiber, of which the Corning TXF fiber is a classical example. The G.654 fibers have a large effective area (Aeff )

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between 110-150 μm2. The OFS G.654B selected for the Test Cable drum has an effective area of 125 nm.

The submarine cable once installed in the ocean bed remains mostly relaxed, with very few cable cuts in its lifetime, and generally stays at a uniform temperature, whereas, the fiber optic cable installed on the land experience linear and angular stresses during installation, blowing & pulling through the duct systems, frequent fiber cuts and large temperature variation between the day and night if installed in the desert area. The submarine fiber shall therefore need to be optimized for terrestrial installations both on macro-bending and proof tests perspectives.

Cinturion wants to maintain a Cabled Fiber Loss (CFL) of 0.16 dB/Km both on the wet and dry segments to meet its transmission design objective of non-regenerated transmission links from end to end (India – Europe) and this is only possible if the FOC installed on the terrestrial segments also exhibits the same attenuation as in the subsea segments. The submarine cable has far fewer splices than the terrestrial fiber cable since a subsea amp spans (60-70 Km) is installed without a cable splice, whereas the terrestrial cable drums are limited in length (6-10 Km) depending on the fiber counts and cable armoring and therefore encounter more splices during installation and more fiber cut during the cable operational lifetime.

TEAS TEST CABLE DRUMS PRODUCTION

Cinturion/BTC Networks selected and engaged two reputed Cablers in Saudi Arabia; MEFC (Middle East Fiber Company) and RCGC (Riyadh Cable Group Company) to manufacture a 96F Steel Armored Test Cable Drum of standard 6.0 Km length comprising 48 x G.654B and 48 x G.652D fibers and test optical, mechanical and geometri-

whereas most of the fiber and cable tests were eyewitnessed

by BTC/Cinturion Team. All G.654B and G.652D fibers in the 96F Cable drum underwent the following optical, mechanical and geometrical test regimes.

1. OPTICAL TESTS REVIEWED • • • • • • cal parameters as per the mutually agreed Inspection & Test Plan (ITP). The G.654B fiber for manufacturing Test Cable Drums and both the Cablers imported G.654B fiber spools and used G.652D fibers from their preferred suppliers.

It was the first experience for both Cablers (MEFC & RCGC) to manufacture a Terrestrial FOC incorporating G.654 fibers so both Cablers cooperated with BTC/ Cinturion and put their best Engineers & Technicians and Quality & Production managers to work with BTC/ Cinturion Testing Team in carrying out the production and testing the FOC successfully. The Test Cable Drums were manufactured in the subject factories and preliminarily tested by the Cablers and BTC/Cinturion was formally invited to eyewitness the ITP tests.

INSPECTION & TEST PLAN

A suite of optical, mechanical, and geometrical tests was developed by BTC/Cinturion in coordination with both the Cablers to test the G.654B fibers for long-distance and ultra-high-speed network applications. The optical tests are generally called “fiber characterization,” and they include spectral attenuation, chromatic and polarization mode dispersion and optical return loss, etc. The manufactured FO Cable was also required to go through stringent mechanical stress and environmental tests as the TEAS cable is required to be installed underground installation strains of plowing machines and harsh desert environments in most parts of the terrestrial network between Oman and Israel passing through Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

The Inspection & Test Plan (ITP) covered the full spectrum of visual, optical, geometrical, and mechanical tests of G.654B fibers. There were certain fiber tests whose results were provided by the fiber suppliers with each G.654B fiber spool and only the results of those tests were reviewed,

Mode Field Diameter For G.654B Fibers Cutoff Wavelength for G.654B Fibers Mode Field Diameter For G.652D Fibers Cutoff Wavelength for G.652D Fibers Zero Dispersion Wavelength for G.652D Fibers Zero Dispersion Slope for G.652D Fibers

WITNESSED

• Chromatic Dispersion (CD) For G.654B Fibers @ 1550nm • Chromatic Dispersion (CD) For G.652D Fibers @ 1550nm • Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) For G.654B Fibers • Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) For G.652D Fibers

2. MECHANICAL TESTS REVIEWED

• Proof Test For G.654B Fibers • Proof Test For G.652D Fibers

WITNESSED

• • • • • • • •

Tensile Strength Test Crush Test Impact Test Bend Test Repeated Bending Test Torsion/Twist Test Temperature Cycling Test Water Penetration Test

IEC-60793-1-30 IEC-60793-1-30 IEC-60794-1-21, E1A IEC-60794-1-21, E3 IEC-60794-1-21, E4 IEC-60794-1-21, E11 IEC-60794-1-21, E6 IEC-60794-1-21, E7 IEC-60794-1-22, F1 IEC-60794-1-22, F5B

3. GEOMETRICAL TESTS REVIEWED • • • •

G.654B Fiber Cladding Diameter G.654B Cladding Non Circularity G.654B Core/Cladding Concentricity G.654B Coating/Cladding Concentricity JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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FEATURE WITNESSED • • • •

FO Cable Outer Diameter Inner Sheath Thickness Outer Sheath Thickness Steel Tape Thickness

4. ADDITIONAL TESTS

In addition to the standard tests specified above, the following Optical Tests were specifically required to be conducted to qualify the manufactured 96F TEAS FOC for deployment in the TEAS Project. The Cablers were asked to include the following supplementary Optical Tests and their test results, test conditions, test limits, tolerances, etc. in the ITP and also in the Test Reports for BTC/Cinturion reference and record.

A. SIMULATED SPAN LOSS

The TEAS inter ILA spacing was required to be simulated in a single drum by splicing and cascading 12 x G.654B fibers from different tubes to simulate the span distance. Three (3) fibers from each fiber tube containing G.654B fibers were selected and serially spliced to simulate 3 x 6 = 18 Km fiber sections. The four (4) such fiber sections were then serially spliced to simulate the required span length.

• The length of the simulated span was measured with an OTDR in decimal KMs • The span loss was measured by a laser source and optical power meter in dBs at 1550nm • The attenuation profile was viewed and traced by an OTDR • The splice loss of each splice was measured with an OTDR bi-directionally in dBs at 1550nm • The individual splice loss didn’t exceed 0.05 dB • The average splice loss of each splice shall as calculated in dBs • The cumulative splice loss for all splices was calculated in dBs

B. CABLED FIBER LOSS

The Cabled Fiber Loss (CFL) was calculated as follows and shown in a snap at the end of this article: • The span loss of the simulated 72 Km span was calculated in dBs • The cumulative splice loss was subtracted from the calculated span loss • The resultant span loss was divided by the span length to get the CFL in dB/Km • The CFL didn’t was found to be less than 0.16 dB/Km for both A- B and B-A directions

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C. MACRO-BENDING LOSS

The Macrobending Loss was calculated to verify G.654B submarine optimized fibers’ suitability for terrestrial applications from the macro-bending perspective. The macro-bending loss values and test requirements for G.654B (submarine optimized) fiber and for G.654E (terrestrial optimized) fiber are indicated in Table-5 and Table-2 of ITU-T G.654 (Nov-2016) publications respectively. The objective of this test is to judge how close the G.654B fiber is to the G.654E fiber from the macro-bending loss perspective.

• The test required a fiber spool of G.654B fiber of any measurable length • The test further required a 30mm mandrel or a tube having a 30mm outer diameter • The fiber loss of the G.654B fiber wound on the spool was measured with an OTDR at 1625nm • 100 Turns of G.654B fiber were wound on a 30 mm outer diameter mandrel/tube • The fiber loss was measured again with the same OTDR in dBs at 1625nm • The difference in the first and second fiber loss readings was found less than 0.1 dB • The difference in the first and second fiber loss reading of less than 0.1 dB (G.654E value) indicated OFS G.654B fibers’ suitability for terrestrial application

D. SPAN CHROMATIC DISPERSION

Chromatic Dispersion was required to be measured on the simulated span of 72 Km using a calibrated CD Test Set and applicable test procedure. The measured CD value at 1550 was found to be =/< 22 ps/Km-nm for several G.654B fibers and =/<18 ps/Km-nm for G.652D fibers nm selected from different fiber tubes.

E. SPAN POLARIZATION MODE DISPERSION (PMD)

Polarization Mode Dispersion was required to be measured on the simulated span of 72 Km using a calibrated PMD Test Set and applicable test procedure. The measured PMD value was found to be less than 0.01 ps/√km for several G.654B and G.652D fibers selected from different fiber tubes.

FIBER CABLE TESTING TEAM

BTC/Cinturion assigned a Team of highly experienced OSP & Transmission Engineers to eyewitness the Test Cable Drums in both MEFC and RCGC Cable Factories.

Instead of using Cabler’s Test Equipment, BTC/Cinturion decided to get support from Vivai’s regional distributor Comtinu in providing the latest and calibrated Test Equipment for the G.654B and G.652D fibers testing at the

cable factories. The Testing regimen took 3 days in each factory to eyewitness and conclude the tests.

TEST RESULTS

The test results achieved from testing both the Test Cable drums at the MEFC and RCGC cable factories were very promising. All the tests in the ITP were successfully conducted and eyewitnessed, in the presence of the BTC/Cinturion Testing Team. The following key optical, mechanical, and geometrical parameters of G.654B fibers were successfully validated qualifying both the Cablers to manufacture TEAS Type-1 (Steel Armored) and Type2 (Non-Metallic Double HDPE Jacketed) and Type-3 (Ducted) FOC locally and installation by the selected OSP Contractors in Saudi Arabia and other countries.

1. All the key optical parameters G.654B selected fibers in the TEAS Test FO Cable drum were tested, eyewitnessed, and validated in MEFC and RCGC Cable Factories in Saudi Arabia: 2. All the key mechanical and geometrical parameters of G.654B selected fibers in the TEAS Test FO Cable drum were tested, eyewitnessed, and validated in MEFC and RCGC Cable Factories in Saudi Arabia:

TEAS Type-1 (Steel Armored) FO Cable

CONCLUSION

The successful manufacturing and testing of TEAS FO Cable G.654B subsea fibers encapsulated in Terrestrial FOC in Saudi Arabia gave strong confidence to both BTC/ Cinturion and the Cablers that such cables can be locally manufactured and remain competitive with FOC manufactured and imported from overseas. STF GREG VARISCO is CEO of Cinturion, building the Trans Europe Asia System- TEAS from Europe to India. He has provided professional services to the telecom and energy industries for more than 30 years. His experience in developing and commercializing advanced subsea and fiber optic networks through the design, development, implementation, and operational phases. He has led the development of several international business initiatives in various companies (startups, turnarounds, public, private, and Fortune 100 organizations). Prior, he was occupied as the CEO of a new transatlantic network.

SHAHEEN QAMAR of BTC Networks is a Lead FO Network Design Engineer providing consulting services on different technologies used in the terrestrial part of the TEAS Project. He has written major RFIs/RFQs/RFPs for the TEAS Project and is leading the BTC/Cinturion Technical & Bids Evaluation Team. Mr. Qamar has more than 30 Years of experience in designing and implementing high-capacity FO networks. He has supervised the design, engineering, and implementation of many NBN class long-distance FO networks in Saudi Arabia such as SNFN, B-ICON, and MFON, etc. spanning tens of thousands of kilometers. He has worked in the past with MOD, AT&T/Lucent, BTC Networks, ProCom, Mobily, and Saudi Ericsson and is currently based in Toronto, Canada.

TEAS Type-2 (Non-Metallic Double HDPE Jacketed) FO Cable

TEAS Type-3 (Ducted) FO Cable

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FEATURE CONNECTING AFRICA’S POTENTIAL

METRE BY METRE, COUNTRY BY COUNTRY

BY GLENN MAULE

I

n the early 1900s, the Ugandan Railway was built, connecting Mombasa to Lake Victoria, and facilitating trade within the region. This milestone in East African history connected its many regions not only to each other but to the world and opened many economic opportunities. So much opportunity that this railway led to the founding of Kenya’s now greatest city, Nairobi, which was originally established in 1899 as a railway depot specifically for the Uganda-Kenya railway.

As always, great progress always comes with great risk.

The construction of this railway was fraught with danger with incurable diseases, dangerous terrain, and hostile wildlife proving a mighty obstacle to the line’s construction.

Even so, the line was built, and the region thrived.

Fast forward 120 years and you will find these same transport corridors still in use today, not just as a channel for rail transport, but for the fibre connectivity infrastructure that connects Africa to the world. But is that enough?

Africa is ready to grow exponentially, however, without sufficient connectivity infrastructure in place (not to mention

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other key infrastructure, e.g., clean water, stable electricity supply, etc.), hope for growth is fruitless as millions of Africans remain economically disconnected from each other, and the world.

Right now, there is no shortage of internet capacity landing on this continent’s shores. The subsea cables are many and continue to bring in more bandwidth. Over the next two years, the continent will see 400 Terabits of capacity brought in from new undersea cables, but without a suitable framework for inland connectivity that potential remains sorely untapped. International capacity of this magnitude is going to need a terrestrial backbone provide ubiquitous Internet access, unlocking economic potential across the continent. This is what drives Liquid Dataport, and we are succeeding, in this most important endeavour.

At Liquid, we have built critical fibre corridors across the continent. This is Africa’s largest independent fibre network, offering connectivity to all the main subsea cable systems that link the continent to the rest of the world.

It has been no easy feat to lay down the physical lines across an incredibly varied and arduous landscape. Navigating issues like electricity, regulatory frameworks, politics, and sometimes even non-existent infrastructure. In some cases, we even had to construct the roads that took us through the jungle as we laid down the fibre.

Our role in spreading the bandwidth inward is one of the most critical catalysts for economic growth that this continent needs. We are building terabit capable systems now, allowing African economies and communities to think bigger, and ensure that connectivity (to neighbouring communities and the world at large), is no longer a physical or commercial obstacle.

With stable internet connectivity spread out throughout the continent, and greater bandwidth being consumed, we can finally drive down the cost of connectivity. As data prices drop, internet service can increase their reach and their business grows along with the rest of the continent. It is a win-win-win-win all the way down the African value chain.

From a connectivity standpoint, our future is very dependent on what we can do in Africa from a country-to-country perspective. We continue to work with regulators across all countries to enable a connectivity framework that allows for competition and ultimately develops the local economy.

If we truly seek to catapult Africa into the connectivity stratosphere, further deregulation of the African telecommunication environment is a critical step in unlocking true economic growth and inclusion.

Following any form of deregulation, Africans are very quick to grasp the opportunity and establish businesses in an extremely competitive market. It is now relatively simple (in deregulated markets) for an individual to build a small ISP offering from a local data centre and start offering internet access at aggressive price points. Our role as builders of key infrastructure is to not-only support these endeavours but create models that allow us to compete in the best interests of the end-users. Much like we saw with the introduction of e-hailing services versus traditional taxis, price is an important component of the decision-making, so we have to adapt

and participate meaningfully for all stakeholders.

Historically a participant may have built a route that offers a monopolistic position in the market, and this position could extend for several years. This “competitive-advantage” is no longer sustained for any length of time, and competition typically arrives within months. We rely on regulators to help promote a competitive environment that diminishes the opportunity for any one participant to assume a monopolistic position. It is imperative that regulators facilitate engagements with all legitimate participants and allow them the respective licenses they need to build and bolster connectivity, therefore improving the lives of Africans everywhere.

You may be surprised at the sheer number of African communities living in remote areas like the ones we pass through and connect. In fact, 2020 data from the World Bank estimates that 59% of Africans live in rural areas, many of which are far from civilization.

From the physical challenge of installing fibre lines across the length and breadth of the continent to navigating optimal economic routes that sees the local market grow and the continental economy flourish – there is no doubt that connectivity is critical to unlocking Africa’s potential.

The opportunity is there, and we are making the most of it.

Much like the intrepid railwaymen of the late 1800s, it has been no easy feat installing the requisite infrastructure needed to spread this bounty of bandwidth across the continent. But every day, meter by meter, we are digging across savannahs, rivers, jungles, villages, and cities, to continue to address the growing demand for connectivity. Africa will persevere and prosper with connectivity lying at the centre of it all. Of this, there is have no doubt. STF

2020 data from the World Bank estimates that 59% of Africans live in rural areas, many of which are far from civilization.

GLENN Maule is currently the Global Head of Sales Operations with Liquid Intelligent Technologies, after earlier roles including Head of Wholesale Data Sales with Liquid, General Manager of Internet Solutions and Chief Operating Officer – BIS with Dimension Data Holdings.

Over the last 30 years, his career has encompassed commercial and operational leadership with P&L ownership, building great teams, developing and executing strategy through business leadership, driving post-acquisition integrations, and transforming sales and operational efficiencies.

He is highly-driven, focused and committed to driving profitable change and revenue growth.

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FEATURE

SUBMARINE NETWORKS: AN EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE - PART 1

BY DEREK CASSIDY

C

ommunications is a very powerful and strong word, and it evolves many things within people. From the earliest societies to the present day, it has developed into an umbrella word enveloping many different forms of communication from the spoken and written form to the mass interactions we have with people and machines, across the globe. The development of communications can be categorised into different revolutionary or evolutionary periods, depending on which way you look at it. These different periods in human history coincided with or influenced the evolution of human society, pushing it further along the path of development and enlightenment. Each period being more transformative that the preceding period. But also, being the launchpad for and contributing to next evolutionary stage in the development of communication. However, none were more influential or decisive than the other as each evolutionary communication change brought with it, its own dramatic influences.

However, there is one evolutionary change in communication that did lead to a substantial change in how people communicated and interacted. This change in communication direction can be identified as the internet age. The age of mass communication where the many actors could interact with this new way to communicate and help the evolutionary process. Over the last thirty odd years the development of the internet has been always in a fast state of change compared to the previous communication eras long gone.

The term internet, which is used to describe an international set of interconnected networks that help form a single united network sharing an agreed communication protocol, is itself a description of what we have today.

Networks spanning the globe interconnecting with other

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international, national, and local networks forming the internet we know today.

However, since the emergence of Covid-19 and its rampant surge around the world, the need to lockdown society was required to try and develop some sort of defence against this pandemic. But in doing so the economy and society itself needed some sort of coping mechanism. It came in the form of broadband connectivity. The sudden move away from the office and the requirement to setup new working stations in domestic settings created a huge demand on the existing broadband infrastructure. This demand was so sudden that many network operators had to hasten plans to increase their network capacity overnight.

This was only possible because of two separate factors that both worked together to deliver the backbone of this new high-capacity bandwidth; optical channel bandwidth increase and submarine cable infrastructure.

It is easy to see why the optical channel increasing from 10Gb in the early 2000’s to the emergence of the 100Gb optical channel in 2010 and re-engineered in 2013 had a great effect on the capacity of optical networks. This increase in capacity along with the introduction of 400Gb optical channels, all agreed and standardised by the IEEE, would be the backbone of the network growth today. The ability to pack as much data into an optical channel and then getting as many of these optical channels onto a single fibre with the aid of dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) and Flexgrid technology truly helped the scaling upwards the capacity on optical terrestrial and submarine cable systems.

These systems were helped when using coherent technology which was a true driver behind the explosion in broadband

connectivity and delivery across the globe over the last few years. Without the internet the past two years under lockdown would have been a disaster for the international global economy.

However, as the internet is a set of interconnected networks spanning the globe, it was the submarine cable that helped deliver this connectivity. The Figure 1: A example of a Flexgrid with a mix of high data rate optical channels: www.viavi.com submarine cable itself, even though only a physical medium, needed the techcable, it was the first reported incident involving damage nical infrastructure behind it to be capable of carrying all caused by fishing. In future all submarine cables would be this traffic. But have you ever wondered what life would be armoured so as to offer some protection on the seabed. like without the existence of submarine cable connectivity?

The core design of the 1850 cable was also a single strand The question would be, what type of communication system of copper, the next submarine cable, the 1851 St. Margaret’s we would have and would have society have developed as it Bay, England to Sangatte, France had an updated design has, along the communication path without the existence where it used four separate telegraph core conductors insuof the undersea umbilical cord? To fully understand this lated with Gutta-Percha and armoured for protection, see question, we must first look at the evolution of the misunfigure 3. This design was first of many that would lead to derstood submarine cable. the development of submarine cable technology.

From the early 1840s the idea that telegraph cable could Soon submarine cables were being laid across the Eurobe laid across rivers was first investigated by O’Shaughnessy pean continent and connecting telegraph stations across seas in India and then further investigated by Morse, in the US and the Siemens Bros in Prussia. However, it was only possi- such as the North Sea and the Irish Sea. A drive to connect the different countries states and colonies was seen in British ble by the invention of the Gutta Percha extrusion machine eyes as “Britain Connecting the Empire.” In 1852 the first that enabled telegraph wire to be extruded over copper wires submarine cable laid between Britain and Ireland was laid efficiently and quickly that enabled long lengths, in Kms, between Holyhead and Howth, see to be successfully insulated in a figure 4. Although six more cables manner that would enable the were to be laid across these sections production of the first submarine in the coming years, this cable was cables. Although this invention a failure due to the design and the was in the era of the telegraph little-known knowledge of laying and preceded the telephone by Figure 2: Sample of the 1850 Dover to Calais submarine cable, the first commercial submarine telegraph cable. a submarine cable over this large about 30 years, the ability to send distance compared to the original messages as electrical signal across cable laid between Dover and Callarge distances was seen as the next ais, a mere one third the distance of this new submarine caevolutionary stage in the development of communication. ble. The technology needed to be improved upon to achieve Henry Bewley and his Gutta Percha extrusion machine communications under water over this and longer distances. changed the world of Telegraphy. The ability to insulate As time progressed and new cable designs were investigatlong lengths of telegraph wire enabled the installation of ed the second successful submarine cable was laid between telegraph systems under ground and the most important Donaghadee, in Ireland and Portpatrick, Scotland. This cable, outcome was the installation of telegraph system under water. With the establishment of the Gutta Percha Compa- being the third such attempt by two different companies successfully proved that by careful planning, route designation, ny in 1848 and the enterprise set up by the Brett Brothers, submarine cable design that it was possible to successfully the first insulated submarine cable was laid between Dover and Calais in 1850. It did not last long, but it did prove that lay a telegraph submarine cable across the sea. Now that the seas, rivers and lakes were seen as an obstacle that could be insulated telegraph wire could work under water. However, as the cable was not armoured, as seen in figure 2 below, the overcome, the next horizon was the oceanic crossings that would really mean a connected telegraph world. likelihood of damage was high and in the case of the 1850 JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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FEATURE or successfully delivered to its destination. They only way to Telegraph communication, on land and across contiovercome this delay in communications was to lay a submanents, in the 1850s was interpreted as a given with regards rine cable across the Black Sea and connect Sevastopol and to communication and its connectivity as the telegraphy era took hold. Britain was looking eastwards and looking to Varna in Bulgaria. This new submarine cable along with the connect India, its Crown Jewel. However, this could only be installation of a new telegraph network connecting Varna with Sofia and Bucharest reduced the delay in communicadone by short submarine cable connections and long-distion from weeks to just days. tance overland telegraph systems.

However, this was 1855 and the However not all of these telegraph war was already raging for well over networks would be in British territory a year. This was also the first war that and so security of these networks was telegraph, its equipment and backup at the behest of the country or empire resources had people assigned to work the networks crossed. and operate as a dedicated unit. This However, there were signs of tenled to the formation of the Signalling sion, that can be seen in today’s sociBattalions within an army’s structure. ety. War broke out in Crimea in 1853 In this instance the ability to connect between Russia and the Ottoman to a telegraph submarine cable was of Empire with Britain, France and Piedutmost importance for the fast delivery mont on the side of the Ottomans. It of communications and specific battle was started dues to religious tension orders etc. But it was on this battle and soon escalated into a war firstly front the term War Correspondent was between Russia and the Turks but was first coined when William Howard soon blown into a full-scale conflict.

Figure 3: A presentation sample of the second “Dover to Calais” or St. Margaret’s Bay, England Russell, an Irish Reporter sent to the It was the first real conflict that used to Sangatte, France submarine cable, note the 4 Crimea by The Times Newspaper to telegraphy as a means of communicaindividual copper conductors. report on the war. Russel was to write tions. However, the Russian Telegraph up and to report on the daily activities and overall informaNetwork was far more expansive compared to the British, tion on the war as it was happening. He had to be report in French or Ottoman telegraph network, especially in this a positive manner so as to deride any negative attention that part of the world. An example of this is the reports from would be faced by the Allied Governments with regards to the Crimea war which were reaching the public, in Russia the war. This first reported use of propaganda used by a state within two to three days while the British and French were slow in receiving strategic military information. Information across a telegraph network. Even though his reports took a few weeks to get back to London, the British Public took a from the battlefield along with the public information bulletins were taking in excess of three weeks to reach London. deep interest in the war and soon the British Government and the Ministry of Defence were facing a backlash due to News from New York was getting to London quicker, yet the very real description of the war by Russell as he refused the Crimea was closer and had a direct land route albeit to follow the government dictated rules applied to Newsa 23-mile submarine crossing that would utilise the St. Margaret’s Bay, England to Sangatte, France (1851 Dover to papers, but he was a true journalist who instead reported on Calais) submarine cable. The allies knew that something had and wrote exactly what he saw. Again, another first for true reporting from a conflict zone only possible by telegraph to be done. As the Russian Empire had control over the inwith the aid of submarine telegraph cables. formation and what was being widely published, promoted However, when the submarine cable was laid his reports and disseminated within general circulation as the Russian were received in London within days and due to the catelegraph network and system of communication was quite pability of submarine cable connectivity, the “nearly” up to extensive. The allies (Britain and France) had to rely on date reports were getting the attention from most if not all steam ship between Sevastopol to Constanta or Varna and levels of Society in Britain, creating an even bigger headthen by cross country rider to Bucharest and Sofia before ache for the authorities. any telegraph message could be sent back to Paris or LonThe need to share information and gather news for the don. As Russian army could receive information and orders via telegraph in a matter of days and even hours but the Al- general public was now seen as a main contributor to telegraph communication and the general public seen as the lies had to wait weeks before any information was received

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had an armour that was eighteen different sets of seven steel consumer. Up until now submarine cable connectivity and strands in a design just like the conductor. However, as this usage was really only available, due to costs etc. to Governarmouring was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, ments, Military, large business with some use by distribuit was thought that the strength would be a strong as the tors of information i.e., Newspapers etc.

Reuters, established in 1851 in German and set up an office steel stranded wire that was being introduced as wire rope.

However, this was the design flaw, wire rope is compacted in London, was established with the main purpose of using together and helps form a solid structure with many strands, the telegraph, as a means, to getting financial and business news distributed to those who required this information. Soon the 1857 cable could not offer this same type of alignment for the reason the Gutta Percha, hemp filling yarn and the Reuters established itself as the main supplier of this inforelectrical conductor restricted the armouring forming a mation and also as a trusted one due to the speed in which it steel wire construction. The could disseminate the inforarmour lacked the tensile mation across the telegraph strength it needed to be able wires. It was the first company to sustain the weight of the who saw the telegraph netcable as it was suspended work as a tool to successfully in the sea under the cable grow their business and for ship. The eighteen different an information company to sets of armouring strands establish itself as content proacted like eighteen different vider and consumer of news sets of wire rope and each and information. in turn tried to sustain the As the development of the weight of the suspended telegraph took hold and the cable being paid out behind networks began to spread Figure 4: A recovered sample of the 1852 Holyhead to Howth submarine cable the ship. They did not act in out across the continents unison and together as a wire rope of may wire bundles is the need to connect these continents was seen as an obstacle designed to do and so it lacked the much important tensile needed to be overcome but the tools were not available at tolerance to keep a cable in suspension. The 1865 and 1866 the time. However, between the years 1857 and 1866 there trans-Atlantic cable seep sea sections had armouring that was a drive to overcome this restriction in long distance was constructed of a single steel wire with a larger diameunderwater telegraphy that could span the oceans. Cyrus ter and with between 11 and 14 wires forming the outside Field along with Charles T Bright, C S Varley, William armour. This design, although not new and used on other Thompson, and many others worked on and contributed to all or some of the many attempts to cross the Atlantic with a cables, was seen as the best option to protect the cable from reaching its breaking strain and causing the cable to break telegraph submarine cable. Four of these attempts failed due or snap under its own weight, while in free suspension. The to cable construction, defects during storage contributing to shore ends on the three different cables also differed with electrical shorting or just bad luck with the cable paying out machines. These attempts have been well recorded, publicised the 1857 and 1866 cable using the single larger diameter steel wire and wrapped around the cable in the same format and spoken about however, the fifth attempt in 1866 proved of between nine and twelve strands making up the shoresuccessful as did the recovery of the 1865 trans-Atlantic end armouring, which had to particularly strong to sustain cable. Within two months between July and September the Atlantic was now crossed by two submarine telegraph cables. and protect the cable from anchor, fishing and sea bottom movement and chaffing off rocks. However, the 1865 cable However, as these expeditions to lay a submarine cable had a different shore-end design which was also used in the across the Atlantic had their technology issues with regards 1870 India submarine telegraph cable. The design was three to cable ships, cable paying out machines, route design and strands making up a combined cross-sectional area that was splicing techniques, the submarine cables associated with equal to two single stands used on the other cables. There these attempts had changed in design over these years. The were twelve of these making up the shore end armour. This 1857 cable had a central core of seven stranded copper design did not suffer from issues associated with overreachconductors, as had the 1865 and 1866 cables. However, the ing the tensile tolerance with regards to cable weight as it 1857 cable had a different armouring design compared to was not used in deep water. However, this design would the other two cables. The Deepsea section of the 1857 cable JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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FEATURE have an issue with being damaged from ever, these two cables also had another fishing as the three stranded wire could effect on society, the economy, financial unravel and cause the cable to become and stock markets. These two cables earthed if it pierced the insulation or if meant that the two stock and financial more than the half the wires unravelled markets of London and New York were it could kink the cable causing breakage now connected meant that they could or earthing issues. now communicate more efficiently with Figure 5(a): A n example of the 1857-8 trans-Atlantic hours rather than weeks. There was also The telegraph transmission technoltelegraph cable a big change in the Cotton markets as ogy also changed with the introduction of Thompsons Galvanometer that could the cotton producers could now find a detect very low voltages to the rate at wider audience for their produce and which words could be transmitted. In buyers also had a bigger selection of 1858 when the first trans-Atlantic was sellers that now spanned the known connected it had a rate of between two globe from America to Asia the cost of and four words a minute. However, the cotton was now subject to stock prices 1866 trans-Atlantic telegraph cable could that could be speculated upon thanks to achieve eight words a minute, and the the trans-Atlantic cables. ability to transmit more words a minute With the successful completion of the was always being investigate. The increase 1866 trans-Stlantic submarin etelegraph word could mean that more telegraph cable the trelegraph world had now messages could be sent creating a bigger overcome its biggest obstav=clke yet. That Figure 5(b): An example of the 1865 trans-Atlantic revenue stream for the operators. telegraph cable is to build a long distance underwater But, the author, has telegraph network that subsequently discovered would connect the world. that many of the displayed The route to India through samples of the 1865 cable British controlled teritoon view are not in fact the ry and across oceans to 1865 cable but a terrestrial increase speed and avoid telegraph cable laid across contected and uncontrolled Valentia Island. This cable areas was now a possibility.

Figure 5(c): A drawing of the 1866 trans-Atlantic telegraph cable had a total of eight copper The age of the Victorian conductors, in the centre Internet had started and there are two copper conductors and on the outer part of the it had its international foundation in Valentia Island. The gutta percha insulation there are six more conductors. The telegraph, along side the Atlantic submarine cable and other outer armouring is the same design as the 1865 cable. So, in submarine telegraph cables established the true national and effect this cable was either laid in 1865 or later in 1869-70. international and even intercontinental telegraph network. It No matter when it was laid the fact that it had multiple con- found its way into society as a means of communications and ductors was proof that future proofing the existing telegraph opened up the world to the era of information. STF infrastructure was considered and put into practice, someDEREK CASSIDY is doing a PhD in the field of Optical thing that had not been considered before then. Planning for Engineering; Waveguide creation and Wavelength manipulafuture telecom, albeit telegraph, connectivity had now found tion with UCD, Dublin. He is a Chartered Engineer with the IET and Past-Chair of IET Ireland. He is Chairman of a footing and foundation within the communication world. the Irish Communications Research Group. He is also With the successful completion and connection of the currently researching the Communication History of Ireland.

1866 and then the subsequent delivery of the 1865 cable He is a member of SPIE, OSA, IEEE and Engineers Ireland.

He has patents in the area of Mechanical Engineering and the ability to communicate between London and New York author of over 30 papers on Optical Engineering. He has been working in the and receive a reply with a few hours was a vast difference telecommunications industry for over 27 years. Derek holds the following to the four weeks in which a reply, at its fasted delivery Degrees; BSc (Physics/Optical Engineering), BSc (Engineering Design), BEng (Structural/Mechanical Engineering), MEng (Structural, Mechanical, and route across the vast Atlantic, could possibly be expected Forensic Engineering) and MSc (Optical Engineering). between the two cities before the cables were laid. How-

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FEATURE

WHITE NOISE FROM THE SEA FLOOR

ZAPPING BY JEAN DEVOS

Geopolitics has always been present in our activity Telegraph cables were born out of the need of a few dominant powers to manage their colonies.

Then there were the zones of economic influence Then we welcomed globalization, that of trade on a global scale China included A network accessible to all Is this over?

A certain world order is being pulled down by the emergence of imperial ambitions.

We move from trust to mistrust we withdraw into ourselves and our friends Where are we going?

Towards a fragmented world Multipolar or even bipolar!

Towards networks of ideological influence.

JEAN DEVOS possesses 60 years of Submarine cables experience, and is a founding member of the AQEST service company. He was the VP Sales & Marketing for Tyco Submarine Systems, Director of Alcatel-Submarcom (underwater systems), and Production Manager of the submarine cables factory in Calais. He managed the acquisition of STC (UK) and merger with Submarcom to create ASN. He is a Graduate of ISEN, Lille University Engineering School with a Bachelor of Science, and a Founder of the SubOptic Association.

JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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KEEP

MAP LEGEND LANDINGS (1044) OIL & GAS SYSTEMS IN SERVICE (19) PLANNED (6)

OFFSHORE FACILITIES (18) CABLE SYSTEMS AGE 16+ YEARS (130) 0–15 YEARS (231) PLANNED (62)

DATA CENTER CLUSTERS Number of Data Centers UP TO 5

51-100

6-25

100+

26-50

YOUR WALLS UP-TO-DATE A CLOSER LOOK ＮＴＴ�ＷＥ�ＭＡＲＩＮＥ�

RED SEA

ᵬᵲᵲᴾᵵᶍᶐᶊᶂᴾᵣᶌᶅᶇᶌᶃᶃᶐᶇᶌᶅᴾᵫᵿᶐᶇᶌᶃᴾᵡᶍᶐᶎᶍᶐᵿᶒᶇᶍᶌᴾᴾ

GULF INDIAN OCEAN

SUBMARINE CABLES OF THE WORLD 2022 MEDITERRANEAN

SOUTHEAST ASIA

CARIBBEAN

BY THE NUMBERS SUBMARINE CABLE SYSTEM I N V E S T M E N T, 2 0 2 2 –2 0 2 4

SUBMARINE CABLE SYSTEM I N V E S T M E N T, 2 0 1 2 –2 0 2 1 2012 2013

2022

2014 2015 2016

2023

2017 2018 2019

2024

2020 2021 0

500M

1B

1.5B

2B

2.5B

3B

3.5B

0

4B

1B

2B

(IN BILLIONS)

3B

REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION O F N E W C A B L E , 2 0 1 2 –2 0 2 1

3K KMS

98K KMS

6B

TRANSPACIFIC TRANSPACIFIC 36K KMS98K KMS 85K KMS

TRANSATLANTIC

52K KMS

POLAR

3K KMS

EMEA 132K KMS

TRANSATLANTIC TRANSATLANTIC

80K KMS 52K KMS

INDIAN OCEAN

150K KMS

68K KMS

5B

R ERG NA E IGOI O NLA LD IDSITSRTIRBIU B TUITOI N ON OO F FN N EW 0 201 2 5 E WC A CBALBEL,E2, 021022–2 2 –2 TRANSPACIFIC

85K KMS

4B

(IN BILLIONS)

POLAR POLAR 67K KMS 150K KMS

68K KMS

INDIAN OCEAN INDIAN OCEAN EMEA EMEA AUSTRALASIA

26K KMS 62K132K KMSKMS

AUSTRALASIA

AUSTRALASIA AMERICAS

2K KMS AMERICAS

T O P D ATA C E N T E R P R O V I D E R F A C I L I T Y C O U N T

T O P D ATA C E N T E R P R O V I D E R F A C I L I T Y C O U N T

CONTENT PROVIDER

CF OA NC T EI N L ITTPYR O CVOI D UENRT FACILIT Y COUNT

CHINA TELECOM

CHINA TELECOM CENTURYLINK

AMAZON AMAZON

Number of Data Centers

EQUINIX CENTURYLINK

Number of Data Centers

DIGITAL REALTY

MICROSOFT

EQUINIX

MICROSOFT

CYRUSONE

DIGITAL REALTY TELEHOUSE

GOOGLE

CYRUSONE PTT

GOOGLE

CHINA UNICOM TELEHOUSE

FACEBOOK

CHINA MOBILE

PTT 0

50

CHINA UNICOM

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

FACEBOOK 0

20

0

CHINA MOBILE 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

40

60

80

NUMBER OF DATA CENTERS 20 40 60

100

120

80

100

120

NUMBER OF DATA CENTERS

Click here to request a complimentary map

BACK REFLECTION

HISTORICAL CABLE LOCATING (PART 2)

BY PHILIP PILGRIM

Figure 1: Low Tide Cable, Sneakers, Boss

INTRODUCTION

This is the second in a series of three articles addressing the up-andcoming field of Telecom Archeology. In this issue we will provide a guide on how you can find Victorian era submarine cables near you. (Near being relative to perhaps the odometer reading of a 2-year-old car for some landlocked folks).

You must wonder if these cables still exist to be found? It is quite clear that the earliest submarine cables were built to last.

The 1874 Direct Cable connecting the USA to the UK via Nova Scotia had been in service well into the 1950’s; albeit a few patch-

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es and re-routes were made during its approximately 75 years of service!

This durability was built into even the earliest cables from 1851 onward and for most of them, they still lay on the ocean floor and in trenches from the

shore to the cable station.

Years of tidal currents, wave activity, and drifting sand often exposes the cables at the beaches. Storms, and in colder areas, ice barges piling on the shore, will expose the cables and even move them. These natural forces, and those unnatural forces, from fishing and marine activities, can cut out sections of the cable and even separate the soft rubber-like insulating core from the exterior’s armoured wires.

Hopefully, this convinces you that there is cable to be found; but before we get into how to find cables, it is best practice to address safety first. I must beg that you Figure 2: Museum Cable with Shell learn from what I say, not

from what I have done and am about to share (note I did not include “we have done” nor Janet).

SAFETY

Let’s start with a bang. Be aware of unexploded ordinance UXO. I kid you not. I was tangled up in this twice in the last five years here in Nova Scotia. Although I was aware of these dangerous items, and I had some training from working on a project in western Africa back in 2012, I could not avoid these two close calls.

UXO’s locations vary around. The common source of these are military dump’s into the ocean’s after a major war, or military/ non-military firing of weapons at beaches. I had thought that lost shotgun shells from duck hunters would have been my only risk but I was wrong.

The first live shell I dug up with a shovel occurred when exploring an old road from the 1850’s that was overgrown. I had a metal detector and was finding wagon wheels and various other bits then I dug up a shell.

After removing dirt I realized what was in my hand so I put it in a conspicuous spot and alerted the RCMP of it. It seemed to be the

Figures 3 & 4: Shell circa 1850-1865

Figure 5: Trapped by Tide

Figure 6 & 7: Live Power Cables and Old Abandoned 3 Phase Power Cable

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BACK REFLECTION

Figure 8: Cable Protected with Articulated Pipe Exposed by Stream

size of a 37mm “Pom Pom” shell as a reference. I hope to visit the spot again this summer and if it is still there, I now know who to call. An irony is that as I am writing this article and looking for photos, here is one from the local historical museum near where I found the shell (Figure 2). I had taken the photo of the subsea cable on the wall but now I see a shell to the right similar to what I found!

I have to go back for sure now….

Murphy!

The second shell was given to me by my brother Sean who transported it over 150 km in his car. Sean and his wife Sarah were enjoying a trip to a location on the Fundy shore called Ottawa House. This area has the highest tides in the world.

When walking along the shore, they

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found an interesting object that they thought could be a submarine cable section, so they brought it to me. It certainly looked interesting and very

Figures 9 & 10: Melted Gutta Percha & Bird Caged Cable Releasing Core

old. It was ~ 10 inches in length and roughly cylindrical, like a cable, with a diameter of ~ 2.5 inches. It was encrusted in a thick layer of marine growth mixed with dissolved metal from years of electrolysis. I have seen this caked on many cable samples where the iron from the armour seemed to migrate outward and form an outer crust in the jute that wrapped the cable. The striking part of the object was a beautifully machined brass ring exposed near one end. Was it a fitting of some sort? So, in Sean’s garage, the good old-fashioned technique of removing the crust by chipping began.

With careful strikes of a hammer, we soon exposed a portion of the body. It seemed to be made of a grey zinc/ lead material, so it became very

interesting and more chipping…. but suddenly the smell of sulfur and the exposure of the lead body beginning to curve towards a familiar shape made us stop instantly. We had a live shell!

(Figures 3&4) We put it in a plastic container filled with water and moved this to the back of his lot near the forest.

After contacting a few military museums seeking advice on what it was and what to do, an expert at the National War Museum in Ottawa said to call the military bomb squad. It took most of the day and many calls, but they finally came and removed it. We are not sure what they ultimately did with it. From looking at online photos of old shells, it seemed like a Schenkel Shell of the USA or an Armstrong Shell from Britain.

These pre-dated the invention of dynamite and were used in the 1850s/1860s.

They were basically reshaped cannon balls with black powder inside. Perhaps I should write more on Samuel Colt’s cables?

Tides can trap you. When exploring be mindful of the low tide and high tide locations and for ways to get off the beach. Janet and I were in this situation when hunting for our second cable. I was a bit more relaxed than Janet

Figure 11: Wire Rope

Figure 12: Cable Exposed at Low Tide

but we are walking on an ever-narrowing beach with a 30’ escarpment on our right and the tide coming in on our left. We did get out; but it was not a fun time (Figure 5). Note that it is approximately 6 hours from low tide to high tide.

Footing. You may find yourself exploring boulder fields placed to mitigate tidal erosion. These are not the places to go bare foot or in sandals. A fall would be very bad. If you explore these areas tread carefully and plan each step.

Dangerous power cables (Figures 6&7). Often were there were old telecom cables, there may have been, or there are high voltage power cables. Avoid these locations. Water and electricity are never a good mix.

Do not cut cables you find. As cables from the 1850’s look like cables of today (wire rope) cutting into one could disrupt a working telecommunications line or a working high voltage power line. If you are lucky to find a cable location, be happy with that.

If you are very lucky and find a cable scrap, be very happy!

RESOURCES

Figure 13: Cables Coming Out of Eroded Bank

A good desktop study has always been the best way to start a subsea megaproject project so the same applies here. Maps are your best JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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BACK REFLECTION friend. Spend some time researching before you head out. Tips on this follow in the article. Here are three excellent resources to help you locate cable landing locations: • i-Boating online charts: https://fishing-app. gpsnauticalcharts.com • Google Earth: https://www.google.com/earth/versions • David Rumsey Maps: https://www.davidrumsey.com If you wish to go deeper, check out old books online, maps, and charts in antique shops, or perhaps a friend with a boat may have charts. Maritime museums and local museums and historical societies often have useful information.

PLANNING

Cable routes are traditional and go back nearly 175 years.

They generally connect large, populated areas using the shortest paths. If you know of a cable route today, there is a good chance cables ran along the same route for decades.

Right of Ways, landing rights, geology, geography, tides, and wave action also resulted landing sites being reused. The easiest way to find out where cables can land would be to use the i-Boating online charts (link

Figure 14: Cable Discarded Beside Far Guardrail

above in the resource section) then zoom in and browse the coast lines near your location. Look for lines with squiggles over them. These are

Figure 15: 1940 German Map (David Rumsey Website)

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Figure 16: Cable landing at Port Cornah (i-Boating Chart)

international navigational symbols for submarine cables. I checked a few areas and noted cables on the charts going back to the late 1800’s so it is not just contemporary cables shown.

It also seemed to be fashionable to land cables on sandy beaches in the 1800’s to minimize damage from waves on rocks (which destroyed the first submarine cable of 1850).

David Rumsey’s map site can be searched easily, and the maps viewed efficiently and quite speedily. It had superb search filters by year so this helps in finding cables that may have just been laid.

Google earth can be used to compare old maps with current locations to find easiest access or to plot GPS data that you may have collected in the field.

If you look on Google maps and happen to see a road named “cable road” running to a beach, there is a good chance it leads to where submarine cables land.

In planning your search, you must also consider access to the site and if any access permissions are required.

Time of day, and tides are also important. It is best to go around low tide so that your search area is maximized. Early in the morning when the sun is lower, and the wind is usually still is a nice time. You can see more in the water and not get a sun burn. Also, the beaches are less populated then.

Time of year is also a factor. In this area, cable can be exposed following the spring thaw and ice flows as well as after hurricanes in the fall when the

sands are greatly disturbed (Figure 8).

Of course, the most important part of a cable hunt is food! Be sure to pack a nice lunch and make it a memorable day on the shore. You may not find anything, but sun, water and fresh air all go very well with a picnic basket filled with goodies.

Finally, beach glass is a fun item to lookout for. You can usually find it and take some home as a consolation prize.

HOW TO LOOK

I have been lucky to live in an area filled with cable landings going back 170 years and also to travel and work at cable stations around the world.

Here are some tips for where to look and what to look for.

Gutta Percha floats, and melts on JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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BACK REFLECTION sunny days! (Figure 9) Often, the soft rubbery insulating core of the submarine cable, has been separated by wave action and it breaks away from the armoured wires. (Figure 10) This flotsam will then travel with seaweed, driftwood, and human trash to be deposited in the upper tidal zone.

If you look at the high tide areas, you may find black snake-like submarine cable core tangles in the rocks and boulders at high tide. The seven twisted copper wires in its centre will reveal it to be a submarine cable core. You will also find modern electrical wires from wharves that had broken up or from human trash dumped in the sea. If there had been particularly heavy storms, small sections of submarine cable can be trapped in the rocks.

A warning that you may have a few false alarms by discovering “wire rope.” It is extensively used for marine projects such as wharfs and in shipping. This often gets washed up and snagged in the boulders. (Figure 11) As mentioned above, be careful of your footing when searching in the rocks and boulders.

Submarine cable is usually found at low tide near the water line. Usually it gets severed at the high tide area by humans or nature and curls up not far

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Figure 17: Cable landing at Port Cornah (i-Boating Chart with Satellite Layer)

Figure 20: Port Cornah Mentioned (Google Books)

away in the area of waves. It can often pop out of the sand. (Figure 12) The other area where it can be visually located is coming out of banks high above the beach. Coastlines are eroding so the cable may have been

buried in the ground 100 years ago but with coastline erosion, that same cable may have been under cut and is now coming out of a bank with the beach far below. (Figure 13) Metal detectors can be used to find

Figure 18: Port Cornah Image (Google Street View)

Figure 19: Port Cornah Cable Record (Atlantic-Cable.com)

buried cable, but it is no fun digging. I recommend only using these for special projects. Let nature do the hard work for you and visit the beach several times.

Sometimes you will find an item of interest then the next time it is reburied. Beaches are dynamic! I’ll digress and mention that I did find a potential meteorite when looking for a submarine cable with a metal detector. I have to get it checked by an expert. It is at a friend’s house. I found it in a soft mossy forest floor ~ 6” under the surface. The area was mostly granite so this was an obvious anomaly and its location in undisturbed topsoil made it more of a mystery. Btw the metal detector was purchased from a city worker who used it for finding water pipes and sewage lines. Perfect for iron submarine cables.

Our oddest cable finds were near a

bridge over a river ~10km from where the cable landed. Perhaps it was used to weigh down an illegal net or it was discarded by a fisherman when cleaning his nets and drying on the guard rails of NS. (Figure 14)

EXAMPLE USING ONLINE TOOLS

Let’s see if there is anything interesting on the Isle of Man: David Rumsey has a 1940 German Map shows 3 landing sites. P. Cornah, Douglas and Ronalds Way (Figure 15) i-Boating shows this cable and details where it lands. (Figure 16) Turning on the European Satellite Imagery Layer on i-Boating shows this to be a nice place! (Figure 17) Google Maps gives us this street view. (Figure 18) Could that be the cable station? I

bet for sure!

Let’s search using Google and the terms Port Cornah Submarine Cable Of course! A hit from Bill Burns’ excellent atlantic-cable.com site gives 1885 3 conductor 35 nautical miles in length (Figure 19) Searching Google Books gives a blurb on the cable in an 1887 German book. (Figure 20) Have fun finding cables…. and if you are ever in Nova Scotia and want to see some, look me up!S TF PHILIP PILGRIM is the Subsea Business Development Leader for Nokia's North American Region.

2021 marks his is 30th year working in the subsea sector. His hobbies include "Subsea Archaeology" and locating the long lost subsea cable and telegraph routes (and infrastructure). Philip is based in Nova Scotia, Canada.

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ON THE MOVE In early June, GAWTUM MANTADIN, BEng MIET joined Maritious Telecom as a Senior Officer.

Gawtum holds a Maters in International Business and has over 28 years of experiences in the Submainre Cable Industry.

This Month KOSTAS KONSTANTINOS KOUTALIS joins the ever-expanding team at Google! He will be working with Google’s Network Infrastructure Team as their new Network Implementation Engineering Manager. He stated “He is looking forward to working with the fantastic team that ensures Google’s services are reachingable with low latency, everywhere around the globe.”

Peace Cable International welcomed their new Country Manager SHOAIB ASHFAQ QURESHI to the team during the last week in June. “With 22 years of experience in the communications industry, Shoaib will assist in providing better services to Pakistan and along the route.”

June also saw EDDIE TAY receive a promoted within Equinix. With 5 years under his belt at Equinix prior to his promotion, his new role will be the Vice President of Networks APAC. An industry plater for over 20 years, Eddie has the track record needed to succeed in his new position.

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Tech Entrepreneur and Former Executive Chairman of Hawiki Cable, RÉMI GALASSO, shared a big announcement mid-June that he will now be service as the CEO of BW Digital Ltd.

Global Marine Group announced that BRUCE NEILSON-WATTS would be taking over for Ian Douglas as the company’s new CEO. In his announcement he stated “I’ve had the great fortune of working in many parts of this amazing business. I relish the opportunity to lead this organization as we embrace the increasing demand for subsea cable consultancy, installation, and maintenance globally.

On July 4th, Open Access Data Centers announced the appointment of African data centre industry leader DR AYOTUNDE COKER as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), with immediate effect. “Under his leadership, OADC will support and accelerate Africa’s digital transformation by constructing and operating a pan-African network of world-class, client-centric, Tier III certified data centre facilities and a unique core-to-edge open-access edge data centre ecosystem, comprising hyperscale, regional and OADC Edge DCs.”

HAVE A NEW HIRE YOU WANT TO HIGHLIGHT IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF SUBTEL FORUM MAGAZINE? Feel free to send a direct message to Rebecca Spence on Linkedin or send the announcement to rspence@subtelforum.com.

SUBMARINE CABLE NEWS

NOW

CABLE FAULTS & MAINTENANCE

DATA CENTERS

Internet Disruptions in Africa & Asia from AAE-1

NJFX adds GoldConnect PoP to NJ Colocation Campus

Coral Sea Cable Shunt Fault Repair Postponed Again

OADC Adding Nine Edge Data Centers in South Africa Equinix Announces Third Data Center in India

FUTURE SYSTEMS Paratus Announces Equiano Has Landed in Swakopmund Bulk & WFN Begin Leif Erikson System Tendering Process Jupiter Cable Will Be In-Service Next Month Echo Cable’s Golden Bouy Has Landed in Tanjung Pakis Altice Portugal Signs MOU to Land Medusa in Lisbon

Green Mountain Expands Capacity at DC in Norway NTT Launches First Spanish Data Center in Madrid Flexential Opens Their US Network to Angola Cables DC BLOX to Build New CLS in Myrtle Beach, SC MainOne Launches MDXi Lekki II Data Centre Interxion Announced Expansion to Barcelona

Telecom Egypt & GRID Telecom sign Heads of Agreement

OADC Rolls Out First Large-Scale, Open-Access, Edge DC Environment in Africa

Intelvision & Vodafone Partnering for 2Africa Branch

Zayo and Equinix Complete First DC 400G Trial

Telecom Egypt Working with Aqua Comms on EMIC-1 Omantel Partners with SUBCO on OAC Echo Branch Lands in Ngardmau, Palau Elettra To Connect Italian Islands with Submarine Cable Mobily and Telecom Egypt Sign Submarine Cable MoU The Durable Begins Installation of the Iris Cable System 2Africa Lands in Djibouti with Djibouti Telecom TEAS Cable Will Land in Lightstorm’s Open CLS in India Intra – Asia Enhances Connectivity with SEA-H2X Cable Cinturion Announced Grid Telecom as TEAS Landing Party Telstra Boosts Connectivity to Australia TMG and WFN Announce Launch of Humboldt Cable Due Diligence Phase Peace Cable Lands in Berbera, Somaliland

CURRENT SYSTEMS

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY ASN to Inaugurate The New Ile de Molene This Week Grid Telecom to Build New CLS in Crete BW Digital Completes Acquisition of Hawaiki Virginia Beach Approves New Subsea Cable Landing Site Vessel Shortage Changes Plans for Maple Leaf Cable Telstra Appointments Noah Drake as President for the Americas EXA Infrastructure to Invest 190€ on Network Expansion ASN Receives Queen’s Award for International Trade 2022

TECHNOLOGY & UPGRADES OTEGLOBE Selects Infinera’s ICE6 Solution for Network AAE-1 Consortium Selects Infinera’s ICE6 Solution

XL Axiata Announces BaSIC Cable Now In-Service EllaLink Goes Live in Cape Verde

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ADVERTISER CORNER Greetings!

We are excited to announce the expected release of our NEW Online Cable Map by the end of July.

Not only will there be multiple ways of viewing the map, you will also be able to print or save as a PDF! Keep and eye on our website and social media for the map's release.

You're going to love it!!

SUBMARINE TELECOMS FORUM MAGAZINE 100,000+ downloads per issue.

Two-month exposure.

Rates start as low at $1,750 Go to our Online Store for size and discount options.

2022 SUBMARINE TELECOMS FORUM MAGAZINE ISSUE THEMES: September: November: January 2023: March 2023: May 2023: July 2023:

Offshore Energy (NEXT ISSUE — ART DUE SEPT. 5) Data Centers & New Technology Global Outlook Finance & Legal Global Capacity Regional Systems

Sponsorship Benefits: • Complimentary tile web Banner on our news feed.

• 30 second optional Video (Full-Page/2-Page Spread only) • Social Media acknowledgment (LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter) • Acknowledgment in Press Release and Mailer

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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR ONLINE STORE

SUBMARINE CABLE AL M AN AC

ISSUE 41 MARCH 2022

SUBTEL FORUM ALMANAC

525,000+ downloads per issue. Three-month exposure.

Quarterly cost: $5,000

NEXT AVAILABLE ISSUE: AUGUST / SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS: • • • • • •

Exclusive sponsorship Logo/link on Cover Full Page Ad (8.5” x 11”) near front of document 30 second optional promotional Video Complimentary tile web Banner on our news feed.

Social Media acknowledgment- LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter • Acknowledgment in Press Release and mailer • Acknowledgment on publication webpage

SPONSORED BY

SUBMARINE TELECOMS ANNUAL INDUSTRY REPORT FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED CATEGORIES GO QUICK. LOCK IN FOR 2022 NOW! One full-year of benefits: $3,750

SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS: • • • • • • •

Full-Page Ad (optional :30 embedded Video) Logo/Link throughout your section Complimentary tile web Banner on our news feed Social Media acknowledgment -LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter Acknowledgment in Press Release and Mailer 560,000+ downloads per issue.

Sponsors can choose their category from below. First come, first served

1. GLOBAL OVERVIEW 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

Industry Sentiment Submarine Telecoms: Our Technology Roots Capacity System Growth Out of Service Systems Evolution..Sys. Ownership/Cust. Base

2. OWNERSHIP FINANCING ANALYSIS 2.1 2.2 2.3

Historic Financing Perspective Regional Distribution of Financing Current Financing

3. SUPPLIER ANALYSIS 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4

System Suppliers Installers Surveyors Recent Mergers, Acquisitions, and Industry Activities

4. SYSTEM MAINTENANCE 4.1 4.2 4.3

Publicity Reporting Trends and Repair Times Club Versus Private Agreements

5. CABLE SHIPS 5.1 5.2

Current Cable Ships Shore-End Activity

6. MARKET DRIVERS AND INFLUENCERS 6.1 6.2

Hyperscalers Data Centers

7. SPECIAL MARKETS 7.1 7.2

Offshore Energy Unrepeatered Systems

8. REGIONAL MARKET ANALYSIS AND CAPACITY OUTLOOK 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7

Transatlantic Regional Market Transpacific Regional Market Americas Regional Market AustralAsia Regional Market EMEA Regional Market Indian Ocean Region Polar Regional Marke

JULY 2022 | ISSUE 125

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ADVERTISER CORNER SUBTEL FORUM PRINT CABLE MAP Add Your Logo to this beautiful, largeformat print map that showcases every major international submarine cable system and proudly hang in many offices in our industry. It is not too early to lock in your spot for 2023!

A CLOSER LOOK

ＮＴＴ�ＷＥ�ＭＡＲＩＮＥ�

RED SEA

ᵬᵲᵲᴾᵵᶍᶐᶊᶂᴾᵣᶌᶅᶇᶌᶃᶃᶐᶇᶌᶅᴾᵫᵿᶐᶇᶌᶃᴾᵡᶍᶐᶎᶍᶐᵿᶒᶇᶍᶌᴾᴾ

SUBMARINE CABLES OF THE WORLD 2022 MEDITERRANEAN

SOUTHEAST ASIA

CARIBBEAN

Yearly logo cost: $3,750

BY THE NUMBERS

ADDITIONAL SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS:

• Complimentary tile web Banner on SubTel Forum Newsfeed • Social Media acknowledgment LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter • Acknowledgment in Press Release and mailer

GULF INDIAN OCEAN

SUBMARINE CABLE SYSTEM I N V E S T M E N T, 2 0 1 2 –2 0 2 1

SUBMARINE CABLE SYSTEM I N V E S T M E N T, 2 0 2 2 –2 0 2 4

2012 2013

2022

2014 2015 2016

2023

2017 2018 2019 2020

2024

2021 0

500M

1B

1.5B

2B

2.5B

3B

3.5B

4B

0

1B

(IN BILLIONS)

LANDINGS (1044) OIL & GAS SYSTEMS IN SERVICE (19) PLANNED (6)

3K KMS

98K KMS

POLAR

3K KMS

DATA CENTER CLUSTERS Number of Data Centers UP TO 5

51-100

6-25

100+

4B

5B

6B

TRANSPACIFIC TRANSPACIFIC 36K KMS98K 85K KMS KMS

TRANSATLANTIC

52K KMS

EMEA 132K KMS

TRANSATLANTIC TRANSATLANTIC

80K KMS 52K KMS

INDIAN OCEAN

150K KMS

68K KMS

16+ YEARS (130) 0–15 YEARS (231) PLANNED (62)

3B

R ERG E IGOI O NA NLA LD IDSITSRTIRBIU B TUITOI N ON OO F FN N EW E WC A CBALBEL,E2, 021022–2 2 –2 0 201 2 5 TRANSPACIFIC

85K KMS

OFFSHORE FACILITIES (18) CABLE SYSTEMS AGE

2B

(IN BILLIONS)

REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION O F N E W C A B L E , 2 0 1 2 –2 0 2 1

MAP LEGEND

POLAR POLAR

67K KMS 150K KMS

68K KMS

INDIAN OCEAN INDIAN OCEAN

26K KMS

EMEA EMEA AUSTRALASIA

62K132K KMSKMS

AUSTRALASIA

AUSTRALASIA AMERICAS

2K KMS AMERICAS

26-50 T O P D ATA C E N T E R P R O V I D E R F A C I L I TY COUNT T O P D ATA C E N T E R P R

OVIDER FACILIT Y COUNT

CONTENT PROVIDER

CF OA NC T EI N L ITTPYR O CVOI D UENRT FACILIT Y COUNT

CHINA TELECOM

CHINA TELECOM CENTURYLINK

Number of Data Centers

EQUINIX CENTURYLINK

AMAZON AMAZON

Number of Data Centers

DIGITAL REALTY

EQUINIX

MICROSOFT

MICROSOFT

CYRUSONE

DIGITAL REALTY TELEHOUSE

GOOGLE

CYRUSONE PTT

GOOGLE

CHINA UNICOM TELEHOUSE

FACEBOOK

CHINA MOBILE

PTT 0

50

CHINA UNICOM

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

FACEBOOK 0

20

0

CHINA MOBILE 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

40

60

80

NUMBER OF DATA CENTERS 20 40 60

100

120

80

100

NUMBER OF DATA CENTERS

THE NEW SUBTEL FORUM ONLINE CABLE MAP Watch this space for updates on our new/ soon to be released Online Cable Map: Exclusive Yearly Sponsorship: $35,000

HERE ARE JUST A FEW FEATURES: :

• In-service Cables – details 450+, updated bi-weekly • Planned cables – 80+, updated bi-weekly • Cableships – location/status of 45+, updated every 6 hours • Data Centers – 1,700+, updated quarterly

For Rates and Benefits Recap (including website & social media), go to the SubTel Forum ONLINE STORE. Or just shoot me an email with you questions. I am, at your service.

Let’s keep the submarine telecoms industry strong, viable, and growing! STF Terri Jones, Sales Manager, SubTel Forum tjones@subtelforum.com

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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE

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COMING NEXT ISSUE!

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contact editor@subtelforum.com

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contact sales@subtelforum.com MARCH 2021 | ISSUE 117

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