Work to begin on new Perth-SE Asia cable

Construction of a new cable system between Perth and SE Asia that will link resource extraction areas in the Pilbara may commence as early as next month, according to reports.

First reported by Commsday, the Trident Subsea Cable, which is led by former Vocus executive Mark de Kock, will feature subsea links from Perth to the Indonesian capital Jakarta and onwards to Singapore.

The US$400 million project will also see a fibre ring constructed around oil and gas fields in the North West Shelf in WA, with a landing point in Onslow and Karratha respectively to service mining operations in the Pilbara.

While some US$320 million of funding through China's Beijing Construction and Engineering Group was signed in Melbourne yesterday, Trident will need to find a further 20 percent to complete financing for the US$400 million project.

Trident has also signed an agreement with Indonesia's Matrix Networks for capacity over two fibre pairs between Jakarta and Singapore. Matrix in turn will use capacity on the Jakarta to Perth link, Commsday reports.

No technical details on the Trident cable were revealed.