The final cable landing for the 10,000km Oman Australia Cable (OAC) was completed in Barka, Oman, marking a major milestone for the project.
OAC, which is now expected to be ready for service in July 2022, is set to become the only undersea cable to avoid the notorious Malacca Straits and is Australia’s first express undersea cable to EMEA, improving connectivity and resiliency between the regions.
SUBCO’s Founder Bevan Slattery said “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”
Regarding the many challenges overcome during the project, Slattery added “This project could not have been completed without the commitment and persistence of our team and that of SubCom our key supplier.”
“To the SUBCO team, especially Lee Harper and Carlos Trujillo, thank you for your professionalism and commitment to our vision. To our Oman landing partners Omantel, led by CEO Talal Said Al Mamari and their VP Wholesale Sohail Qadir, thank you for your support during the entire project and helping enable our final landing. Finally, to David Coughlan and the system supply team at SubCom, thank you for continuing to deliver this project on schedule in these extraordinary times”, Slattery said.
“Our congratulations to the team at SUBCO for reaching this milestone," said David Coughlan, president of SubCom. "We are very appreciative of the opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities in a region that has traditionally provided challenges for cable installation. Throughout the OAC project, we've exhibited the flexibility, dependability, and expertise that make SubCom such a valuable partner for visionary companies like SUBCO."
https://www.subcom.com/documents/2022/SUBCO_OAC%20Final_Landing_Press_Release-28APRL2022.pdf
Oman Australia Cable ready for installation
The Oman Australia Cable (OAC), which will span 9,800 km between Muscat and Perth, hit another significant milestone in its construction with SUB.Co confirming that the fiber has now been fully manufactured. Load #1 of 2 is now being loaded onto a freighter to transfer to the main-lay ship for installation beginning in March 2021.
Final splice for the OAC is on target for December 2021. Once completed, OAC will be the only submarine cable directly connecting continental Australia and EMEA, providing the first secure, diverse, express and lowest latency route between the two continents.
OAC is designed with 4 fiber pairs and a total system capacity of 54 Tbps.
Bevan Slattery, founder of SUB.CO said, “2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year to commit to building a cable of this scale, but I am delighted that we have achieved 100% of cable production and completed the first load system assembly testing within the original product schedule. This could not have been done without the assistance of our fantastic partners: SubCom.”
David Coughlan, CEO of SubCom noted, "We knew that this was going to be a task when we committed to the program back in February 2020, but we also knew we would be up for the challenge. Despite everything that has been thrown at us, our team has done an exceptional job to keep this project going, on time, on budget and most importantly, safely.”
