Hunton & Williams Advises GoTo Networks on First Direct Undersea Cable System Connecting Australia, Africa, and the Middle East

Hunton & Williams LLP is advising GoTo Networks, Inc. in respect of its construction and development of the Australia West Express (AWE) submarine cable system, which, when completed, is expected to be the first direct undersea cable between Australia, the Middle East, and Africa. GoTo Networks, a developer and operator of submarine fiber optic cable systems, recently signed a turnkey supply contract with Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks to build the AWE system.

The AWE system, a 10,500 km link spanning across the Indian Ocean, will connect Perth, Australia to Djibouti in northeast Africa. The system is expected to be ready for service by the end of 2016, and will have an ultimate design capacity of 20 Tbit/s – bringing needed bandwidth and geographic diversity to western Australia.

The Hunton & Williams team is being led by partner Fernando Margarit. “This is an exciting time for fiber optic subsea cable systems and it is a privilege to be a part of the development of the AWE system and its expected contribution to further facilitating communications to different parts of the globe,” said Margarit.

John Mariano, GoTo Networks Founder and CEO, said: “AWE will support a wide variety of consumer and enterprise broadband services for the economies of Australasia, and will recognize Europe’s increasing importance as a destination for internet traffic. Leveraging ASN’s innovation and 200 Gbit/s transmission technology, we are also positioning for further scalability to address future growth in ultra-broadband traffic and applications.” GoTo Networks, Inc. is focused on the development of new submarine cable systems to greenfield or underserved markets.