Verizon Business obtained final FCC approval including a landing license to activate and operate the Trans-Pacific Express submarine cable system in the U.S. The 17,000-kilometer TPE cable — being built by a consortium comprised of Verizon Business, China Telecom, China Netcom, China Unicom, Korea Telecom and Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan) — will initially provide capacity of up to 1.28 Tbps, with a design capacity of up to 5.12 Tbps to support future Internet growth and advanced applications. Customers will have access the cable system at 10 Gbps wavelengths. It also is the first major undersea system to land on the U.S. West Coast in more than seven years. The submarine communications cable will use the latest optical technology and provide greater capacity and higher speeds to meet the dramatic increase in demand for IP, data and voice communications traffic between the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region and within the region.
Verizon Business completed the landing work for the cable in Nedonna Beach, Oregon on Nov. 14, 2007. Verizon Business also is building out network facilities in Oregon to connect the TPE cable to Verizon Business’ U.S. domestic network. In addition to the U.S. West Coast landing, the TPE cable will land on the China mainland at Qingdao and Chongming. Additional landing points include Tanshui, Taiwan and Keoje, South Korea.
Manufacturing and construction to complete the TPE submarine cable is well under way. The first cable was placed into the water near the Korean coast on Sept. 21, 2007, and the first 55 kilometers of TPE cable was placed off the U.S. West Coast in late November. Numerous cable-laying ships are current in the Pacific Ocean. The TPE system is scheduled to be completed and in service by August, in advance of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
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