Australian subsea cable specialist Sub.co announced on Thursday that its 10,000km-long submarine cable project, extending from Australia all the way to the Sultanate of Oman, is set to come online in July this year. It follows the successful landing of the final stretch of the cable at Barka, just outside Muscat, earlier this week.
The Oman-Australia Cable (OAC), plans for which were first unveiled in October 2019, is set to be the only express cable linking continental Australia and the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region. It promises to offer secure, diverse and low latency connectivity between the two continents.
“I am incredibly excited to achieve this milestone and knowing the finish line is so close after what can only be described as some of the most extraordinary and challenging times I’ve ever seen in the industry. With all the landings completed we now move towards final splice and then final testing and commissioning,” said Bevan Slattery, Founder – Sub.co, said in a statement announcing the successful completion of the mammoth cable laying endeavour.
Significantly, the landing of the Oman-Australia cable on the Omani coast is a further testament to the country’s appeal as a gateway for communications to the wider region. In announcing its decision to land the cable in the Sultanate of Oman, Sub.co cited the country’s ongoing success in attracting investment from cloud, network and data centre providers. Around 15 submarine cables currently terminate on the country’s shores, underscoring Muscat’s importance as a key hub for the EMEA region and a gateway between Asia, Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Facilitating the landing of the Oman-Australia Cable in the Sultanate of Oman is majority state-owned Omantel, part of Oman Investment Authority – the integrated sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman. Besides being a leading telecom player in the region, Omantel is also a participant in a sizable portfolio of international submarine cable systems.
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