RELEASE

New subsea cable to provide new express route between Australia and EMEA and complete new “Great Southern Route”.

Brisbane, Australia 24th October 2019 – SUB.CO today announced it has selected Subcom (formerly known at TE Subcom) to build a new international subsea cable system that will directly connect Muscat, Oman to Perth, Australia called “OAC” (Oman Australia Cable).

Once completed, OAC will be the only express cable between continental Australia and EMEA, providing the first secure, diverse and low latency route between the two continents. As OAC will not pass through the Sunda Strait or South China Sea, the system will avoid many of the issues being experienced by other cable systems in those areas and form part of a new “Great Southern Route” between continental US, Australia and EMEA.

The OAC cable system design is a three (3) fibre pair system with option to upgrade to four (4) fibre pairs based upon final demand and will span approximately 9,700 km with additional branching units designed to extend the system into Salalah, Oman and Djibouti in the future.

Bevan Slattery, founder of SUB.CO said, “I am delighted to be building a new, express route providing diversity and low latency between Australia and EMEA, while at the same time avoiding some of the challenges associated with building through the shallows of the Sunda Strait and busy South China Sea. For me, the Oman Australia Cable is the final piece of an important puzzle to improve Australia’s resiliency and recognises the growing importance of Oman in becoming the new “Cloud hub” in EMEA.”

Cloud Growth in Australia and Oman

In the past twelve months, Perth has seen significant investment in submarine cables and cloud hosting facilities with three new submarine cable systems completed (ASC along with Indigo West and Indigo Central) and two new major data centre facilities commissioned (NEXTDC P2 and Equinix PE2). Both Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services have established Cloud onramps in Perth for regional availability zones (AZ) and others are expected to be announced soon.

“OAC will be highly complementary to the recent submarine cables between Perth and Singapore as well as Indigo Central, which will be used to extend OAC to Australia’s cloud capital - Sydney” said Mr Slattery.

In deciding to land the cable in Oman Mr Slattery sighted recent investment from major cloud, network and data centre providers in the region as key reasons for selecting Muscat Oman. Muscat in Oman has 15 submarine cables terminating today and will soon have a new Equinix facility being operated under a joint venture between Equinix and Omantel. Speaking with customers and potential customers, it has become apparent the industry has selected Oman as the key hub for EMEA and the gateway between Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Having visibility to the upcoming investment by major cloud providers in the region is only going to further enhance Oman’s position for the foreseeable future.

OAC is expected to commence manufacturing later this year and is scheduled to be completed by December 2021.

SUB.CO ARE SUBMARINE CABLE INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT SPECIALISTS

Founded by internet entrepreneur Bevan Slattery, SUB.CO has assembled an experienced team of submarine cable experts with deep experience in all aspects of designing, financing, constructing and operating submarine cable infrastructure.

SUB.CO provides cable system design, consultation and can also assist with cable systems development and associated assets. With ownership interests in Indigo West and Central cable assets as well as the OAC cable project, SUB.CO is demonstrating a commitment to investment in strategic submarine cable assets helping fuel the growth in cloud connectivity around the world.

The Oman Australia Cable

A new express subsea cable connecting EMEA to Australia and beyond

The Oman Australia Cable will directly connect Muscat, Oman and Perth, Australia thus providing the only express cable between the two continents and when connected to the Indigo Cable System, will form part of a new “Great Southern Route” between the United States, Australia and EMEA.

In addition to providing express connectivity, the OAC will also deliver the lowest latency path between Australia and EMEA as well as complete diversity from all existing systems west of Australia. The OAC has been designed so that it is the only system that avoids zones which have a history of cable damage due to external aggression (Aunda straits) and also subject to territorial disputes (South China Sea).

Project Specifications

Key Management

Meet the SUB.CO management team

Bevan Slattery

CEO & Founder

Bevan Slattery is a well-known technology entrepreneur with a proven track record in founding a series of successful technology companies and building large scale infrastructure projects.

Carlos Trujillo

Chief Commercial Director

Carlos is responsible for Commercial decisions and management. He has worked with major tier 1 carriers in the United States, Europe and throughout Asia, and was most recently director of international planning at Telstra. He joined Subpartners in 2012 as Commercial Director, going on to become General Manager in 2014.

Lee Harper

Chief Operations Officer

Lee is responsible for overseeing the design, construction, implementation and operation of SUB.CO’s telecommunications infrastructure.

Project Participants

The companies supporting and managing the project

SUB.CO

OAC Project Management & Australian Landing Party

SUB.CO has many years of experience delivering much-needed capacity infrastructure. SUB.CO has strong relationships with industry experts and hardware providers, and the access to the funding required to deliver major infrastructure projects.

SubCom

System Supplier

SubCom brings a vast depth of network resources, industry knowledge and global experience that support on-time cable system delivery and meet the needs of its customers worldwide. As a pioneer in undersea communications technology and marine services, SubCom offers the cutting-edge technologies needed to support the Oman Australia Cable specification.

Omantel

Oman Landing Party

Omantel is the first and leading integrated telecommunications service provider in Oman. Founded in 1970, Omantel is a joint-stock company listed in Muscat Securities Market and is 51% owned by Oman Investment Fund (OIF), a wholly-owned investment arm of the Omani government.