Telstra says that it expects the Southern Cross NEXT (SX NEXT) submarine cable to be ready for service. The undersea system, which recently achieved provisional acceptance, is designed to provide 72 Tbps of connectivity between Australia, New Zealand, and the US, with branching units to Fiji, Kiribati, and Tokelau.

SX NEXT spans approximately 15,857 km and provides its capacity via 400G wavelengths over four fiber pairs. Telstra says the system is the first single span express cable and the first direct cable to run between Australia and the US and offers the shortest submarine route between the two countries.

“With the rise of cloud-based services and hybrid remote working models, connectivity with diversity and reliability is more critical than ever to ensure constant uptime and uninterrupted services,” commented Telstra International’s CEO, Oliver Camplin-Warner. “We will continue to innovate on our network infrastructure and work with our industry partners on providing more accessible, faster and more stable connectivity to our customers, enabling them to connect with the rest of the world.

“The SX NEXT cable will strengthen Telstra’s existing subsea network infrastructure – one of the largest in the Asia-Pacific region – and solidify our commitment to connecting people and communities from Australia and the Pacific Islands to the US and around the world,” Camplin-Warner concluded.

Telstra possesses a 25 per cent share of the Southern Cross Cables Network (SCCN), the owner of SX NEXT (see “Telstra to buy 25 per cent stake in Southern Cross Cable Network, lease capacity in Southern Cross NEXT”). SCCN also owns the current Southern Cross network, a pair of submarine cables architected in a loop.

A step along the way

Pioneer Consulting, which has worked with SCCN on SX NEXT, announced earlier this month that the submarine cable achieved provisional acceptance. The company says it performed market and business case analysis, procurement and contracting, project implementation, quality assurance, and shipboard representation. Pioneer also said it helped ensure the successful commissioning of the subsea system between each cable station.

Alcatel Submarine Networks performed the system installation as well as designed and manufactured the cable, repeaters, and branching units, Pioneer also noted. The company said it expects SX NEXT to enter commercial service on July 7, 2022.