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Cable Technology Feature Article

July 30, 2010

AT&T Announces Expansion of Network Capacity for the Asia Pacific Region

By Jayashree Adkoli, TMCnet Contributor


AT&T announced that it plans to expand its network capacity for the Asia Pacific region by upgrading the, Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 “APCN2,” of which AT&T (News - Alert) is part ownership.

The APCN2 is an undersea telecommunications network of cables. It is a key component of the company’s global backbone and along with several other subsea cables in the Asia Pacific region.

Not only does it provide high-speed bandwidth, but also helps support meshing capabilities provided by the AT&T global network.

According to officials with AT&T, the APCN2 is designed to provide connectivity with other major trans-oceanic cable networks linking the USA, Europe, Australia and other parts of Asia. The existing APCN2 spans 19,000 km and connects ten landing points across Asia Pacific, including in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan.

The upgrade of APCN2 is scheduled to be completed by the second quarter of 2011, according to a press release. There will be an increase in the capacity of the dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) cable by four folds, from the existing 10Gb/s DWDM to 40Gb/s, after the up gradation.

"We are excited at the opportunity to meet our customers' growing needs for more capacity as transmission demands continue to increase in the Asia Pacific region," said Joe Watson, executive director, network engineering, AT&T Asia Pacific. "As traffic continues to grow by large measures in the region, our participation in major undersea cable networks like the APCN2 allows us to continue providing industry-leading solutions for our multinational customers around the world."

AT&T also announced plans to invest US$1 billion. This investment is part of the company’s overall 2010 global network investment. This plan will enable the company to scale its delivery of applications, mobility and cloud services for global companies, to expand small business services within the United States and to continue extending its network globally.


Jayashree Adkoli is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Jayashree's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi