San Francisco, California, and Piti, Guam - The management teams of RTI and GTA have entered into a joint venture and are constructing the Gateway Network Connections, LLC (GNC) facility.

GNC will serve as Guam’s first combined neutral Cable Landing Station (CLS) and Data Center (DC).

GNC further elevates the importance of Guam as a vital hub for undersea cables. Several new undersea fiber optic cables will land on Guam in the coming years, including 100G cables already scheduled to land at GNC’s facility in 2019 and 2020.

GNC will provide seamless interconnection for both existing and new cables, providing onward connectivity between and among Asia, Australia, and the United States. The new GNC building will be located adjacent to GTA’s existing CLS, where the Southeast Asia-United States Cable System (SEA-US) lands.

Guam as an essential telecommunications hub

Scheduled for completion in Q1 2020, GNC will be an 11,800-square-foot (1,096 square meter) Type 3 designed data center with approximately 250 racks of capacity and 2 Megawatts of power. The purpose-built facility is engineered to withstand Category 5 Hurricane conditions and tsunami flooding.

GTA is the incumbent operator on Guam, and it is also an experienced cable owner, consortium member, and landing party. GTA’s most recent success was its early completion of the Piti-I CLS, where SEA-US’s 100G cable has been commercially in-service since 2017.

RTI is also an experienced cable owner, and its affiliates will soon be completing construction on new 100G cables that will land on Guam. The new cables include the Japan-Guam-Australia North Cable System (JGA North) connecting Tokyo and Guam, the Japan-Guam-Australia South Cable System (JGA South) connecting Sydney and Guam with a branch to Australia’s Sunshine Coast, and the Hong Kong-Guam Cable System (HK-G) connecting Hong Kong and Guam. JGA North, JGA South, and HK-G will interconnect with one another at GNC’s neutral facility, and GTA’s network will allow for seamless connectivity between GNC and other active cables landed on Guam.

“Operators who land cables on Guam will soon be able to maximize their cable investments by interconnecting to GNC’s carrier-neutral facility,” said Russ Matulich, CEO of RTI. “GNC will allow for new 100G cables and existing cables to rapidly and seamlessly interconnect thanks to GTA’s fiber, which is already connected to cables landing on Guam.”

The GNC site plays a crucial role in the next generation of global communications. Technology giants, global enterprises, cloud-service providers, academic institutions, and content providers see Guam as a vital intersection for high-speed networks. The GNC facility is well-equipped to support – and enable -- the intense data demands of the modern world.

“GNC will unlock the value of more than $3 billion in undersea cables that land on Guam,” said Roland Certeza, CEO of GTA. “GTA has the largest buried fiber footprint on Guam, which allows us to provide additional protection. In addition to the SEA-US Cable System in our Piti-I facility, GTA will also provide 24/7/365 technical support as part of our joint venture with RTI in GNC. GNC’s neutrality ensures a level playing field for both large and small companies who rely on Guam as a reliable, neutral hub to and from Asia.”

Critical infrastructure for the Asia-Pacific region

GNC is the Asia-Pacific intersection for SEA-US West, SEA-US East, HK-G, JGA North, and JGA South. The GNC facility is designed to accommodate at least five additional cable systems, and GNC will provide critical connectivity to other active cable systems on Guam.

As a key landing site and crucial connection point for several Asia-Pacific cable systems, GNC will help enable high-speed digital communications throughout the region and across the Pacific Ocean to the mainland U.S.

“The ease of interconnecting between and among cables is the key to maximizing any cable investment,” said Brett Lay, President of RTI. “Interconnecting in a neutral environment allows our customers to port capacity to and from any cable on the RTI network. Portable capacity can now be realized not only because of GNC’s efficient design but also due to GTA’s state-of-the-art network on Guam. Upon its completion in 1Q 2020, GNC will make it efficient and easy.”

“Guam has always had strategic importance in the telecommunications field,” said Lou Leon Guerrero, Governor of Guam. “This investment underscores our administration’s commitment to strengthening our telecommunications infrastructure and ultimately providing new economic opportunities for our island. We congratulate GTA and their partners in achieving this important milestone, and we look forward to their continued contributions to our island and people.”

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About RTI: RTI is a leading independent undersea cable owner providing large-scale network solutions across a wide variety of industries including cloud companies, network operators, regional carriers, global enterprises, content providers and institutions for higher learning. RTI is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA. For more information, visit www.rticable.com.

About GTA: GTA provides complete communications services in Guam for residential and business customers. The company operates a 4G LTE wireless network, high-speed internet, digital television, and local and long-distance phone service. GTA also delivers carrier-class data circuits along with operating a cable landing station for the SEA-US cable consortium. Based in Tamuning, Guam, GTA is privately owned and locally managed. For more information, visit www.gta.net.