Delays hobble cable racers
The race to build a multimillion-dollar internet cable from Perth to Singapore has turned into a slow crawl, with all three contenders going to ground after mass delays and broken promises.
WestBusiness reported in January last year that all three projects planned to be up and running by now yet none have started construction, with most being pushed back because of funding delays.
The three companies — Perth-based Trident Subsea Cable, Subpartners, backed by technology entrepreneur Bevan Slattery, and Nextgen’s Australia Singapore Cable — are vying to build the subsea fibre optic cable from Perth to Asian internet hot spot Singapore, through Jakarta.
The cable is needed to increase capacity outside the existing ageing cable into Perth. Industry insiders say only one is viable.
NextGen’s website says the $200 million project is supposed to be in operation this quarter. A spokeswoman for the company said yesterday it now had a start date.
“This is a complex project which is taking longer to put together than anticipated,” she said.
Nextgen did not reveal whether it had secured funding for the project.
Trident is proposing a $400 million, 7000km multi-faceted cable on land, as well as underwater, to service the Pilbara, the offshore oil and gas sector as well as Perth, Jakarta and Singapore.
It is understood Trident has been trying to shore up funding to the project after tellingWestBusiness in August it was “two months away” from securing funding.
Subpartners did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the state of its project, with its last update almost 12 months ago when it announced its preferred data centre for the $200 million project.
