One of three companies pushing to build a subsea cable from Perth to Singapore has started reserving material for construction, indicating its confidence in a positive outcome from current commercial negotiations.
SubPartners has announced its construction partner, TE SubCom, has reserved 3,300 kilometres of cable needed for the project.
The company said the securing of the material, along with permits to lay the cable in Australian, Indonesian and Singaporean waters meant SubPartners could proceed with commercial negotiations to fund the project.
SubPartners is led by technology entrepreneur Bevan Slattery, who was responsible for establishing PIPE Networks and also has a stake in NEXT DC, which opened its first data centre in Perth earlier this year.
The proposal for the Perth to Singapore link - called APX West - is in addition to SubPartners’ other proposed projects for submarine cables between Perth and Sydney (APX Central) and Sydney and California (APX East).
The APX East and APX West cables are expected to cost around $450 million to construct.
SubPartners is one of three companies pushing to build a cable from Perth to Singapore, with Nextgen Group subsidiary Australia Singapore Cable also awaiting a final investment decision.
The other proponent, Trident Subsea Cable, has obtained a commitment from the Beijing Engineering Construction Group to contribute $320 million to the project, leaving it to find investors for the $80 million remaining cost of the project.
Trident is also proposing to build a terrestrial cable to the Pilbara.
