East-side fiber project launches

On Wednesday 28th April 2021, BSCC held a public consultation on its East-side project, funded by the Asian Development Bank. This is an extension of the West-side fiber, linking BSCC’s CAP-N cable station at Ngeremlengui to a new access point at the airport in Airai. That fiber has been in service and carrying the bulk of Palau’s international traffic for more than 12 months, at 100% availability. However, it does represent a potential single point of failure. This will be addressed by extending the fiber route to the north and then down the east side, along the Compact Road, using the same micro-duct / micro-duct technology deployed by G&C Underground for the first time in Palau on the West-side route.

As for the West-side, add / drop points are pre-designed into the East-side, enabling Retail Service Providers (RSP) connection into local communities along the route.

 
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The cut is only a finger’s width, and the result is unintrusive.

 
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After installation and re-sealing, fibers (48 fiber cores in this case) are blown into the micro-duct.

BSCC’s presentation from Wednesday is available for download here: