Jakarta, Singapore, Sydney, 30 May 2019 – AARNet, Google, Indosat Ooredoo, Singtel, SubPartners and Telstra today announced that the INDIGO subsea cable system is now ready to be deployed by consortium members, following the on-schedule completion of the INDIGO West (4,600km Singapore to Perth) and INDIGO Central (4,600km Perth to Sydney cables.

Featuring new spectrum-sharing technology, each consortium member can independently leverage the new cable system to upgrade their networks and enable capacity increases on demand.

Spanning 9,200km, the INDIGO cable system will strengthen connectivity between Australia and the fast-growing Southeast Asian markets, providing lower latency and more reliable communication services. Using current coherent optical technology, the cable can support up to 36 terabits per second, the equivalent of simultaneously streaming millions of movies a second.

The completion of the cable system is timely as Asia’s economy is increasingly being driven by digital connectivity. In fact, bandwidth demand between Asia and Australia will reach 75Tbps by 2025 according to TeleGeography and the INDIGO subsea cable system will help meet the exponentially growing demand for direct connectivity between Singapore and Australia.

This milestone follows the announcement in April 2017 that the consortium had made an agreement with Alcatel Submarine Networks to build the INDIGO cable system connecting Singapore, Perth and Sydney, with two additional fibre pairs connecting Singapore and Jakarta via a branching unit.

Telstra’s Head of International Oliver Camplin-Warner said: “The development of the INDIGO cable system strengthens the link between our Australian network and the fast-growing South East Asian markets and will deliver our customers faster connectivity and dramatically improved reliability. Our vast subsea network is a key part of our international growth strategy and we will continue to invest in additional capacity to meet our customers’ increasing demand for data and maintain our network leadership in the Asia-Pacific region.”

AARNet’s CEO Chris Hancock said: “We are looking forward to lighting up INDIGO. This cable system is providing critical underpinning infrastructure to support the future growth in collaborative data-intensive research and transnational education. INDIGO is one of several investments that will ensure that Australia and our partners in Asia have the international connectivity they need to deliver excellence in research and education for many decades to come.”

Singtel’s Vice President, Carrier Services, Group Enterprise Ooi Seng Keat said: “As South East Asia and Australia become increasingly interconnected, a high-speed and robust connectivity infrastructure plays a critical role in catalysing the development of digital economies across the regions. The completion of INDIGO will accelerate the roll-out of next-generation technologies that rely on low latency and high-bandwidth connectivity such as high-definition video, autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things and robotics applications. This will bring us closer to realising the benefits of a hyper-connected future and allow us to enhance our services to Singtel and Optus customers, reinforcing our position as the leading provider of international data services in the region.”

Drew Kelton, Chief Executive Officer, Superloop on behalf of SubPartners, said the commissioning of INDIGO West and Australia’s first transcontinental fibre optic submarine cable, INDIGO Central is a significant achievement. “INDIGO Central complements Superloop’s metropolitan fibre networks providing high speed capacity and ubiquitous connectivity to terrestrial cable systems across Australia. When combined with the international capacity and interconnectivity to Singapore and Hong Kong, our strategy to virtualise businesses across the Asia Pacific region is now being realised.”

Dejan Kastelic, Chief Technology and Information Officer Indosat Ooredoo said: “Indosat Ooredoo is excited with the commissioning of INDIGO. It will be diversifying our international connections across Australia and the fast-growing Southeast Asian market, serving demand increase of data traffic and expanding opportunities for our both customers, corporate and retails consumers. It supports our vision to become a leading digital telecommunications company by providing world-class data connectivity and also to support Indonesia’s digital economy growth.”

Ashish Ahuja, Global Network Infrastructure at Google said: “Part of Google’s global infrastructure investments to improve connectivity, we’re excited that INDIGO will enable faster and more reliable services for users, as well as boost business capabilities between South East Asia and Australia.”

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AARNet media contact: Jane Gifford, media@aarnet.edu.au, +61 2 9779 6960

Indosat Ooredoo media contact: Turina Farouk, turina.farouk@indosatooredoo.com, +62 +815 1010 8000

Singtel media contact: Sonny Phua, sonnyphua@singtel.com, +65 6838 6527

SubPartners media contact: Wendy Hill (Sapphire Communications), wendy@sapphirecommunications.com.au, +61 427 173 203

Telstra media contact: Matthew Wu, media@team.telstra.com, +61 433 634 706 (ref number: 059/2019)

Google media contact: Virgine Serre, vserre@google.com, +65 9459 4552

About AARNet

Australia’s Academic and Research Network (AARNet) provides high capacity national and international telecommunications infrastructure and collaboration services for the nation’s research and education sector, including universities, health and other research organisations, schools, vocational training providers and cultural institutions. AARNet serves over two million end users who access the network for teaching, learning and research. For more information, visit aarnet.edu.au.

About Google

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

About Indosat Ooredoo

Indosat Ooredoo (IDX:ISAT), member of Ooredoo Group, is building Indonesia’s leading digital telco, enabling access and greater connectivity for everybody and every business. Focusing on human growth, Indosat Ooredoo aspires to enrich the lives of Indonesians in the digital world and proactively offer solutions to fulfill their needs. For more information, visit http://www.indosatooredoo.com

About Singtel

Singtel is Asia’s leading communications technology group, providing a portfolio of services from next-generation communication, technology services to infotainment to both consumers and businesses. For consumers, Singtel delivers a complete and integrated suite of services, including mobile, broadband and TV. For businesses, Singtel offers a complementary array of workforce mobility solutions, data hosting, cloud, network infrastructure, analytics and cyber-security capabilities. The Group has presence in Asia, Australia and Africa and reaches over 650 million mobile customers in 21 countries. Its infrastructure and technology services for businesses span 21 countries, with more than 428 direct points of presence in 362 cities. For more information, visit www.singtel.com. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SingtelNews.

Optus is the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Singtel Group and services over ten million customers each day. It provides a broad range of communications services including mobile, telephony, business network services, internet and satellite services and subscription television. For more information, please visit www.optus.com.au.

About SubPartners

SubPartners develops high performance, secure international cable systems capable of providing improved connectivity between Australia and the rest of the world. SubPartners is part of Superloop (ASX:SLC) – a leading provider of connectivity and managed services in Australia and the Asia Pacific. Superloop owns and operates over 670 km of carrier-grade metropolitan fibre networks in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, connecting more than 275 strategic sites in the region.

INDIGO West and INDIGO Central provides Superloop with the basis for connectivity between its existing metropolitan networks and further expansion into Asia, creating a fully meshed, pan-Asian network to meet growing customer demand across the region. Through the ability to swap capacity, for access to other international cable systems, it will also open up access to new markets and customers. Visit www.subpartners.net or www.superloop.com

About Telstra

Telstra is a leading telecommunications and technology company. We offer a full range of services and compete in all telecommunications markets in Australia, operating the largest mobile and Wi-Fi networks. Globally, we provide end-to-end solutions including managed network services, global connectivity, cloud, voice, colocation, conferencing and satellite solutions. We have licenses in Asia, Europe and the United States and offer access to more than 2,000 points of presence across the globe. For more information visit www.telstra.com