Japanese electronics maker NEC has signed a charter contract for a new cable-laying ship to help it meet the growing global demand for submarine cables.
NEC is ranked second in the world for building undersea cable systems that serve as arteries for cross-border data communications.
The vessel chartered from a British company is now preparing to set sail from NEC’s plant in Kitakyushu, western Japan.
The ship can store about 7,000 kilometres of cable. NEC says the large capacity makes installation more efficient.
NEC official Kashima Takahiro said ” When we use SNS or the internet, all the data travels through submarine cables. So in that respect, this is a big deal. We are confident that these submarine cables will help the world cope with the ever-increasing data flow.”
US research firm TeleGeography says demand for international communications is growing by 30-to-40 per cent per year. Most of the data traffic is via undersea cable because it is faster than satellite links.
Investment in submarine cable systems is growing sharply. US tech giant Google recently announced a plan to lay a cable between Japan and Canada.
