NEC Completes Faster Cable System

Faster, a consortium of six international companies, together with its supplier NEC Corporation, informed that the construction and end-to-end testing of a new trans-Pacific submarine cable system, the ‘Faster Cable System’, has been completed and will start service on June 30, 2016.

The 9,000 km Faster Cable System lands in Oregon in the United States and two landing points in Japan, namely Chiba and Mie prefectures. The system has extended connections to Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland and Seattle.

“From the very beginning of the project, we repeatedly said to each other, ‘faster , faster and faster,’ and at one point it became the project name, and today it becomes a reality. This is the outcome of six members’ collaborative contribution and expertise together with NEC’s support,” said Hiromitsu Todokoro, chairman of the Faster Management Committee.

“This was the first trans-Pacific submarine cable built solely by NEC Corporation, employing the latest 100Gbps digital coherent optical transmission technology. We are honored that the consortium entrusted us to build Faster. Although we faced many challenges during the construction, I am truly glad that we were able to overcome these and to welcome this day,” said Kenichi Yoneyama, project manager for Faster at NEC’s Submarine Network Division. “This epoch-making cable will not only bring benefits to the United States and Japan, but to the entire Asia-Pacific region.”

Construction of the system was announced in August 2014 by the Faster consortium, consisting of China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Global Transit, Google, KDDI and Singtel.