Mataram-Kupang submarine cable system

Project description:

• Mataram-Kupang submarine cable system (“MKCS”) project connects five islands in eastern Indonesia with a cable length of about 1300 km. 
• As part of the Palapa Rings program launched by the Indonesian government, the MKCS project will connect Indonesia’s central and western backbone cable networks, bringing residents of the nation’s major islands onto the information highway.
• Beyond conventional communications services, the new system will also support a wide range of broadband applications, such as internet connections, video and 3G services.

 

Customer’s challenges:

• The project was challenging due to the very long unrepeatered spans, up to 430 km, meaning that the attenuation in the optical fibers had to be below 0.170 dB/km, and that Remote Optical Pumped Amplifiers, ROPA, had to be integrated into the cable system.
• In addition, laying the cable in water more than 3000 m deep meant that it needed to have a robust special design, suitable for such depths.

 

Nexans’ solutions:

• Nexans URC-1 cable was ideal for this project, which brought the worldwide installed length of this cable type/family to more than 27 000 km.
• The fiber type chosen for the project was G.654B from Sumitomo, which was cabled in Nexans stainless steel tube for an optimal environment and low attenuation.