NEC building submarine cable system for Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company

NEC Corporation has been awarded by Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company for NEC to design, engineer, supply, install, test and implement an optical submarine cable system connecting Okinawa Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan.

NEC will provide the optical submarine cable system as a turnkey solution. This cable system is scheduled to start operation in April 2020.

This cable system is connected to Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture, and Hioki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, with a total length of approximately 760 km and a maximum depth of approximately 1,200 m. The cable system employs the latest optical wavelength multiplex transmission method, and the maximum design transmission capacity is 80 Tbps per second.

By connecting the cable between Okinawa and Kagoshima via a different route from the existing cable, this cable can secure a backup line in the event of a large-scale disaster or other emergency. In addition, this cable system will respond to the demand for communications between the Okinawa, Kyushu and Honshu regions of Japan, which is expected to continue growing in the future due to the construction of data centers in Okinawa and the launch of 5G services.

NEC has been a leading supplier of submarine cable systems for more than 50 years. It has built more than 300,000 km of cable, spanning the earth 7.5 times, and has strengths especially in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan.

NEC, as a system integrator, provides all aspects of submarine cable operations, including the production of optical transmission terminal stations, optical submarine repeaters, optical submarine cables, ocean surveys and route designs, installation of equipment and cable installation, and training and delivery testing.

NEC's subsidiary, OCC Corporation, is responsible for the manufacture of this cable, which is the only company in Japan that can manufacture optical submarine cables capable of withstanding the water pressure from 8,000 m deep seas.