Australia-based connectivity services provider Superloop completed the construction of the Tseung Kwan O Express (TKO Express) two months ago in March 2017, making it Hong Kong's first submarine cable linking the data centers in Tseung Kwan O and Chai Wan.
Bevan Slattery, Superloop's executive chairman and CEO, will next Tuesday (June 13) officiate the launch of the TKO Express in Hong Kong.
Founded in 2014, Superloop is an independent provider of connectivity services. It designs, constructs and operates networks throughout the Asia Pacific metro region.
As an expanding telecommunications industry entrant in the region, Superloop already owns and operates over 540km of fiber networks in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
"TKO Express" is Superloop's first submarine fiber-optic cable project in Hong Kong.
In an exclusive interview with Computerworld Hong Kong, Superloop's CEO Bevan Slattery explains the major challenges the company faced during the construction phase of TKO Express, the key partnerships formed, and the company's upcoming plans for the Hong Kong market.
Permission and construction
According to Slattery, the permitting process and the actual construction of the cable duct to connect between Tseung Kwan O and Chai Wan have been the most challenging aspects of the TKO Express construction project.
In 2014, Superloop began to investigate the possibility of constructing a submarine cable system across Victoria Harbour. "There was much need for a diverse, low-latency path from Hong Kong Island to the key data centers in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate (TKOIE)," he said.
Ruling out the option to build it in the cross-harbor tunnels, the company concluded that it was a viable option to install an undersea cable across the Victoria Harbour. It commenced the design and permitting process for the selected sites mid-2014.