Submarine Fibreoptic Cable Networks

Fibreoptic submarine cable networks are responsible for the carriage of the vast majority of international communications traffic. The legal issues surrounding their construction and maintenance, and the sale or leasing of capacity on these systems are unique – and our lawyers have followed the industry’s development from the its origins in consortia cables to the current widespread interest, and increase, in activity in this area.

Key areas of our expertise include:

Buying and selling capacity, including drafting "IRU" agreements
The specific issues raised by pre-sales contracts
Advising on landing party agreements, co-location and backhaul
Dark fibre contracts

Looking into whether it is possible to take security over fibre capacity
Exclusive and non-exclusive capacity distribution and resale agreements
Construction and maintenance agreements
Accounting treatment of capacity sales and the FASB rules

Our team's experience includes:

Drafting standard form capacity sale and pre-sale agreements for Matrix Networks, which is building a fibreoptic submarine cable system between Singapore and Jakarta
Assisting a Scandinavian cable system with the procurement process for their backhaul network
Serving on the legal committee formed by SubOptic (the leading industry organisation for the sector) to draft a standard-form cable system supply contract for use by the industry
Acting for Pangea Networks in the UK. This was a network connecting the UK with Northern Europe and Scandinavia
Acting for Nava Networks in Australia. This was a proposed US$800m+ fibreoptic cable system connecting Singapore and Sydney via Jakarta

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