APX East

Overview

APX East is a planned transpacific submarine cable system spanning approximately 13,000 kilometers, designed to connect Australia, Fiji, and the United States. Owned by SUBCO, the cable is expected to be ready for service in 2028. Once operational, it will serve as a critical link in the South Pacific, connecting the Australian east coast, the Fijian archipelago, and the Hawaiian and Californian coasts of the United States. This system aims to enhance regional connectivity and provide additional capacity for data traffic across the Pacific Ocean.

APX East is notable for its extensive reach, crossing vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean to link key economic and communication hubs. The cable's design reflects the growing demand for reliable, high-speed connectivity between Oceania, the Pacific Islands, and North America, supporting both regional development and global data exchange. Its completion will position it as a significant infrastructure asset in the transpacific telecommunications landscape.

Route and Landings

The APX East cable system includes four landing points strategically located to maximize its regional and transpacific impact. In Australia, the cable lands in Sydney, a major economic and telecommunications hub on the southeastern seaboard. Sydney's role as a central point for international connectivity in Australia makes it a logical choice for the cable's Australian terminus.

In the Pacific Islands, the cable lands in Suva, the capital city of Fiji. Suva is a critical point for regional connectivity in the central Pacific, serving as a hub for communications infrastructure in the Fijian archipelago and surrounding island nations. This landing strengthens Fiji's role as a key player in Pacific telecommunications.

In the United States, APX East lands at two locations: Kapolei on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and San Diego, California. Kapolei serves as a vital mid-Pacific hub, while San Diego provides direct access to the U.S. mainland's West Coast. This dual landing strategy enhances the cable's resilience and ensures robust connectivity between Oceania and the United States.

Ownership and History

APX East is wholly owned by SUBCO, a submarine cable developer and operator with a focus on the Pacific region. SUBCO specializes in designing, building, and managing submarine cable infrastructure across Oceania and the broader Pacific Basin. The company has a track record of developing key connectivity projects aimed at meeting the growing demand for international bandwidth in the region.

The APX East project was announced as part of SUBCO's broader strategy to expand its network across the Pacific. With a planned ready-for-service date in 2028, the cable is currently in the development phase. Once completed, it will add a new, high-capacity route to the existing network of submarine cables connecting Australia, Fiji, and the United States.

What Our Measurements Show

Our live monitoring of APX East, conducted across 20 measured corridors, reveals a best round-trip time (RTT) of 140 milliseconds and an average RTT of 154 milliseconds. These figures are consistent with the physical distances involved in traversing the Pacific Ocean between Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, and the U.S. mainland. The cable's performance metrics are expected to support high-speed, low-latency connectivity for a range of applications, including cloud services, streaming, and international communications.

At 13,000 kilometers in length, APX East is longer than 78% of the 83 other submarine cables that connect the same countries. Its route reflects the challenges of spanning the vast Pacific Ocean while ensuring reliable and efficient connectivity. The system's design and performance metrics underscore its importance as a key piece of infrastructure for the Australia-Fiji-United States corridor, providing additional capacity and redundancy to support growing data demands in the region.