Hokkaido-Sakhalin Undersea Cable -- Shortest Fiber Route from Tokyo to Europe

Japan's NTT Communications (NTT Com), TransTeleCom (TTC), Russia's leading backbone telecom operator, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build a 500 km high-capacity undersea fiber-optic cable linking the two countries.



The Hokkaido-Sakhalin Cable System (HSCS) will transmit data at up to 640 Gbps between Ishikari, Hokkaido in Japan and Nevelsk, Sakhalin in Russia. The project is slated for completion by the end of 2007.



The undersea fiber cable will link with TTC's transcontinental optical backbone, which follows the route of the Siberian railway. This will enable the shortest uninterrupted fiber link from Tokyo and other parts of Asia to Russia and Europe. The new route will also function as a rerouting network for the existing route that connects Japan and Europe via the Indian Ocean, providing extra backup in the event of a probable disaster like an earthquake.

http://www.ntt.co.jphttp://transtk.ru/www/nsf/esite.nsf/