Australia–Japan Cable (AJC)

Active

Submarine cable system, ready for service 2001 }}.

Key facts

Status: Active
Ready for service: 2001 }}
Design capacity: 640 gbit/s (2001)<br/>1000 gbit/s (2008)<br/> >4000 gbit/s (2013)
Owners: Telstra, BT, Verizon Business, Softbank
Connects: Australia,Guam,Japan

Landing points

#Shima, Japan, #Shima — Japan
Maruyama, Chiba, Japan, Maruyama — Japan
Tanguisson, Guam, Tanguisson — Guam
Tumon Bay, Guam, Tumon Bay — Guam
Oxford Falls, Sydney, Australia, Oxford Falls — Australia
Paddington, Sydney, Australia, Paddington — Australia

Overview

The Australia–Japan Cable, known as AJC, is a transpacific submarine cable system connecting Australia to Japan with an intermediate landing in Guam. Entering service in 2001, it established a direct high-capacity pathway between two of the Asia-Pacific's most significant telecommunications markets at a time when demand for international bandwidth was accelerating sharply.

Route and Landing Points

AJC comes ashore at two points in Japan — Shima and Maruyama in Chiba Prefecture — and touches Guam at both Tanguisson and Tumon Bay before terminating in Sydney at Oxford Falls and Paddington. The dual landings at each end provide a degree of route diversity and reflect the redundancy requirements typical of carrier-grade infrastructure. Guam's position as an intermediate landing point is consistent with its broader role as a cable hub for traffic moving between Australia, Japan, and the wider Pacific.

Capacity and Upgrades

AJC launched with a design capacity of 640 gbit/s — substantial for its era. The system was upgraded to 1,000 gbit/s in 2008 and expanded again to more than 4,000 gbit/s in 2013, a trajectory that reflects both improvements in wavelength technology and the sustained growth in transpacific traffic over more than a decade of operation.

Ownership

The cable is jointly owned by Telstra, BT, Verizon Business, and Softbank. That consortium spans Australian, British, American, and Japanese carriers, which is consistent with AJC's role as a shared international facility serving the commercial interests of multiple major operators across different markets.

Regional Context

AJC sits within a competitive regional cable environment where several systems serve broadly similar transpacific corridors. Its longevity and successive capacity upgrades suggest it has continued to carry meaningful traffic volumes rather than being rendered redundant by newer builds — a mark of a well-positioned route that addresses genuine, persistent demand between Australia and northeast Asia.