The Vocus Communications Australia Singapore Cable (“ASC”) was officially launched in Indonesia yesterday, in an event with its landing partner XL Axiata.
The event celebrated the strategic and economic opportunities the cable will deliver for Indonesia as a key landing point on the ASC route.
Attendees included the H. E. Rudiantara, Indonesian Minister of Communications and IT; Phillipe Piron, ASN president; Dian Siswarini, XL Axiata CEO; and Vaughan Bowen, Vocus group chairman.
“The ASC network has been designed specifically with Indonesia in mind, providing the geographic diversity required to support Indonesia's critical information infrastructure,” says Bowen.
“Through Vocus' transmission network and long-term capacity rights with trans-Pacific cable systems, the ASC will provide the missing link connecting Asian customers to global internet and cloud content located in the US via an alternative Great Southern Route.
“Indonesia is soon to be a key hub in the middle of these traffic flows, rather than an end-point of the region's fibre optic networks,” Bowen adds.
Forecasts suggest that Indonesia's GDP is set to grow from US$3trillion in 2016 to US$5.5trillion by 2030, meaning the new digital trade corridors established by the ASC are critical enabling infrastructure to support and sustain this growth.
“We are acutely aware of the growing trade and dependence between Australia and Indonesia,” says Bowen.
“In the recently released Australian Government Foreign Policy White Paper, it was noted that Indonesia is of first-order importance to Australia, both as a major bilateral partner and as a country that will influence the shape of the regional order.
“ASC establishes a modern, world-class system that utilises latest generation technology and equipment to provide a flexible, dependable, high-performance network that's purpose-designed for the future,” Bowen says.
Siswarini describes a set of key benefits for her market.
“The availability of high capacity, high-reliability international bandwidth which will enable XL Axiata customers to enjoy this luxury, including corporate, Government and Internet Service Provider customers in Indonesia.
Piron says, “ASN is involved in several initiatives aiming to manage traffic growth and meet multi-terabit capacity demands globally and regionally.
“The ASC system is a building block of these initiatives and this project further strengthens the collaboration developed over the years, initially with Nextgen and now with Vocus.