During the last 15 months, six original Trans-Pacific Express Consortium members (China Netcom, China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, Korea Telecom and Verizon Business) have been designing and constructing an 18,000-kilometer next-generation fiber-optic submarine communications cable between the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.

With the addition of NTT Communications, the TPE cable will add a subsea cable link to Japan.

The TPE cable is the first multi-terabit optical cable directly linking the U.S. mainland and East Asia. Using cutting-edge technology, the cable has a design capacity of up to 5.12 terabits per second (Tbps).

Enterprise and large-business users require higher speeds and greater capacity on network routes to deliver voice, video and data across the globe as they continue to expand their business globally. The TPE will support current and future needs for high-speed traffic, as well as enhance reliability by securing route diversity from other submarine cables between the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S.

The segment to be added as the result of NTT joining the TPE Consortium this month is the additional link to Japan, which is expected to be completed in March 2009, and the Japan-to-U.S. link, which is expected to be completed in early 2010.

AT&T announced a China-U.S. route is scheduled to be operating by August 2008, followed by the launch of a Japan-China route in March 2009.