Nava-1 is a broadband fibre optic network that will be completed in 2002.

It will provide a high capacity strategic data connection between Singapore, Jakarta and Australia. It will also connect to international cables, effectively closing the southern hemisphere loop for international systems between Europe, North America and Asia.

Nava-1 will add several new lanes to the Australian information highway, effectively tripling the available international capacity in 2002 and providing the first multi-terabit high bandwidth cable directly linking the major Australian cities of Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Putting the Nava-1 network in operation is a major IT&T project for the Asia-Australia region. Construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2001.

• 9,000km long submarine and terrestrial cable network
   
• uses Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) repeatered 10 Gbit/s (STM-64) technology
   
• undersea cable will have 4 fibre pairs, each equipped with a minimum of 80 channels (wavelengths) of STM-64 (10 Gbit/s)
   
• minimum total transmission capacity of 3.2 Terabits/second (equivalent to the transmission of over 80 full length feature films of DVD quality video per second)
    
• 99.99% availability for submarine network
  
  
• terrestrial segment will utilize DWDM longhaul repeatered 10 Gbit/s per wavelength technology and use readily available fiber types. The equipment is designed to operate in the difficult and isolated environment of Western Australia.
  
  
• Perth to Melbourne cable will contain 12 fiber pairs and will be encased in protective ducting where required. This protection along with redundancy of key parts of the electronics enables the system to meet availability requirements without using expensive dual routes.