Telstra to lay optic cable

Telstra to lay optic cable

SYDNEY (Reuter): Australia's two major telecommunications companies, Telstra Corp and Optus, said yesterday they were about to begin laying an optical fiber cable between Australia and Indonesia.

The companies said the cable would be Australia's first direct optical fiber link with Asia.

JASURAUS, a joint venture between Telstra, with 69 percent, and Optus Networks Pty Ltd with 31 percent, said it and Indonesian telecommunications carrier PT Indosat would provide Australian companies and consumers with direct superhighway links to all Asian destinations, the joint venturers said.

The cable is being laid under a A$120 million contract by Cable and Wireless Plc vessel the Cable Innovator between Jakarta and the coastal town of Port Headland in Western Australia.