The Trans-Pacific Express Consortium has added AT&T and NTT Communications as two new members of the organisation. AT&T and NTT Communications signed construction and maintenance agreements on 28 February and 14 March respectively, to participate in the TPE Consortium. With the addition of NTT Communications, the TPE cable will add a subsea cable link to Japan. The TPE cable is a multi-terabit optical cable directly linking the US mainland and East Asia. The cable has a design capacity of up to 5.12 Tbps. The TPE will support current and future needs for high-speed traffic, as well as enhance reliability by securing route diversity from other submarine cables between the Asia-Pacific region and the US. The segment to be added as the result of NTT joining the TPE Consortium this month is the additional link to Japan, which is expected to be completed in March 2009, and the Japan-to-US link, which is expected to be completed in early 2010, subject to regulatory approvals.
