Improving Time-To-Market and Reducing Risk Before and During Project Implementation By Debra Brask
In today’s transoceanic and regional telecommunications markets, it is critical to provide capacity on newly constructed systems in the shortest time possible for system owners to meet or exceed business case expectations. The critical factors in reducing project intervals and risk are the manufacturing back log of the suppliers, preliminary planning of the project, initial capacity needed to meet business plan objectives, and the cooperation between the supplier and owner during the construction. A variety of approaches can be executed during the planning and implementation of submarine projects that show improvements in the traditional schedule intervals. The result is the potential reduction on the order of 4-6 months from traditional implementation. Pre-Contract Planning The first critical decision to minimizing risk is the identification of the system’s geographic locations. Once the locations are identified, a brief preliminary analysis of the ability to obtain an operators license within each country should be conducted. The best approach to obtain this information is to contact local counsel with experience in the telecommunications market. The contact will be able to provide advice on the interval needed to receive a license, or if a landing party will need to partner with the owner to land/ operate the system.
Once the need for a partnership is determined, identification of potential landing parties should begin as soon as possible. When the landing party partner has been selected, the team should proceed to negotiate and sign a landing party agreement as soon as possible. In circumstances where no landing party is required, the owner should begin the process to file for an operator’s license. This is critical in most countries because operational permits cannot be requested or obtained until the operator’s landing license has been granted. This license allows a supplier to begin filing for operational permits immediately after contract signing. The next important factor in site selection is determining the feasibility of obtaining construction permits, both land and marine. Evaluation of the permits in various municipalities within a given country can determine if approval of permits will be a three-month or two-year process. If the approval process is too lengthy, potentially due to environmental impact studies, an alternate site may be selected and the system design can be modified to ensure that the key cities are still being integrated. Owners may opt to install a branching unit, independent of the municipality selected for the landing site, which will eventually enable connectivity into a country that has too lengthy a permitting process. This facilitates generation
of revenue on the remainder of the system while awaiting approval to land in countries not initially included. This allows for a shorter interval to bring these countries online as soon as permitting is approved. Selection of a site that will not change during the implementation of the project, or be burdened with prolonged permit intervals, is critical to maintaining the accelerated schedule. Desk Top Studies are a direct way to obtain the required permitting information. This study aids in the permitting process as well as understanding the initial route and landing location. Changes during this stage of the project related to the landing site, accommodating permitting barriers, selecting marine routes or terrestrial connectivity to the landing station do not significantly impact the project duration. Contracting for a Desk Top Study, prior to the contract coming into force is highly recommended for project optimization. Desk Top Studies will also state if there are potential weather windows to avoid. Installation should occur when the weather window is most favorable for marine work to avoid downtime. Preliminary planning, with respect to initial capacity (number of wavelengths and the number of fiber pair being lit), can reduce the project schedule interval while allowing an owner to turn on the first few wavelengths for capacity sales. The remainder of the wavelengths can be added on an “as needed” basis in accordance 33