SAT-3 upgrade under consideration
Trials are under way to investigate upgrading the SAT-3 cable from using 10Gbps per wavelength (10G) technology to 40G technology. This is according to Johan Meyer, head of Telkom’s global capacity business who recently spoke to MyBroadband.
Meyer explained that such an upgrade wouldn’t necessarily quadruple the capacity of the cable as they may not get the same number of wavelengths on 40G as they did with 10G.
The 340Gbps capacity on SAT–3 is made up of 17 wavelengths per fibre pair at 10Gbps per wavelength, Meyer said, further explaining that repeater spacing would determine how many wavelengths are available for a 40G upgrade.
“I don’t think we’ll get all of them,” Meyer said, “but how much less I don’t know.”
The SAT–3 cable received an upgrade in 2009, boosting the cable’s capacity from 120Gbps (using 2.5Gbps wavelengths) to its current 340Gbps. Its partner cable, SAFE, was upgraded to 440Gbps.
Johan Meyer, head of Telkom's global capacity business
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