Prelude’s fibre optic cable is now connected

The North-West Cable System (NWCS), recently constructed by Vocus in partnership with Shell and INPEX, comprises 2100km of sub-marine cable, between Darwin to Port Hedland. The system can deliver speeds of up to 40GB/s (gigabites per second) to both INPEX and Shell facilities and serves to increase the reach and resiliency of the Vocus Australian telecommunications network. The NWCS has been designed to enable high speed data connections to other key hydrocarbon prospects along the cable route.

“Connection of these services isn’t just an important milestone for Vocus, it’s an improvement to the essential telco services in an often-neglected part of Australia and a fast and secure connection to families and teams for the fly-in-fly-out crew on these platforms, ” said Geoff Horth, Vocus CEO.

“INPEX is proud of the close industry collaboration that enabled this cutting-edge communications system to be put in place. Not only has this initiative strengthened the safe operations of the INPEX-led Ichthys LNG Project’s offshore facilities – it has also delivered immediate benefits to our teams and the Northern Territory and Western Australia communities connected to the cable,” said Louis Bon, Managing Director Ichthys Project.

“Shell is extremely pleased of the partnership with Vocus and INPEX. The NWCS will improve the collaboration of our onshore and offshore teams during the commissioning and operation of Prelude, and importantly, will transform the offshore experience for our offshore teams ensuring they are well connected to home and family,” said David Bird, VP Prelude.