California, US, Singapore and Tokyo, Japan, 22 September 2017 – RAM Telecom International, Inc. (RTI) and NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) announced today that the purchasers of the Southeast Asia - United States Cable System (SEA-US) have executed the certificate of Provisional Acceptance (PA) for SEA-US. SEA-US is now ready for commercial service.

The US $250 million SEA-US investment delivers an initial design capacity of 20 Terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity, using NEC’s state-of-the-art 100 Gigabit per second (Gbps) technology. SEA-US’s capacity is essential to facilitating exponentially growing demand for bandwidth between Asia and North America. The new cable also greatly enables onward connectivity to existing and planned submarine cable systems, including the recent announcement of the commencement of construction of the Hong Kong - Guam Cable System (HK-G) by RTI’s affiliate, RTI Connectivity Pte. Ltd. (RTI-C).

RTI-C and NEC also announced today that the marine route survey for HK-G was completed on 8 September 2017. The detailed information that has been gathered during the survey will shape the final route engineering that will be undertaken. This is a significant development in the construction of the 3,900-kilometer HK-G, which will land in Piti, Guam at the recently completed Teleguam Holdings LLC (GTA) cable landing station, the same facility which is being utilized for SEA-US.
 
Russ Matulich, RTI’s President and CEO, acknowledged this important milestone stating, “Transpacific capacity demand will continue to outweigh existing supply for many years to come, and RTI’s SEA-US investment is now providing essential route diversity and much-needed onward connectivity options for our clients.” Matulich added, “Completing the HK-G marine route survey is an important milestone towards our goal of providing fully diverse transpacific connectivity. Once completed, HK-G will seamlessly interconnect with SEA-US, allowing customers to not only diversify their traffic between Hong Kong to Los Angeles, but also connect to other existing and planned international cables landing in Guam.”

As one of the world’s top vendors of submarine cable systems, Mr. Toru Kawauchi, General Manager of NEC’s Submarine Network Division said, “It is with deep pride that NEC has handed over the keys to launch the SEA-US Cable to RTI and the SEA-US consortium members. From the day we signed the contract, we have dedicated our best resources to completing this cable. There are plenty of obstacles for every cable we build, and SEA-US was not immune from this.  By working together with the cable owners, we have overcome each-and-every obstacle, and achieved Provisional Acceptance earlier than scheduled. We look forward to many more years of further enhancing our relationship in order to answer the global demand for connectivity. ”

NEC has more than 40 years of experience in the submarine cable business and is recognized as one of the world's top submarine system vendors. NEC has laid a total of more than 250,000 kilometers of submarine cable, the equivalent of six trips around the earth. As a total system integrator, NEC produces optical submarine cable, optical submarine repeaters and equipment for connecting optical transmissions to land, in addition to carrying out ocean surveys, route design, laying optical submarine cable and training personnel for the handover of these systems.

About RTI: RTI and its affiliates and are leading neutral cable owners and develop global telecom infrastructure and large-scale data connectivity in selected markets. RTI offers its neutral products and services to international telecommunications carriers, multinational enterprises, global content providers, and educational institutions. RTI is headquartered in San Francisco, California and RTI-C is headquartered in Singapore. For more information, visit www.rticable.com

About NEC Corporation: NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company’s experience and global resources, NEC’s advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.

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