• Colt will launch new route on the transpacific Juno cable system
• Juno links California to Tokyo
• Colt is one of many operators looking to capitalise on the growth in AI-related traffic volumes

International data network operator Colt Technology Services has announced plans to invest in new subsea and terrestrial network routes connecting the western US to Asia as demand for AI-related capacity continues to rise.

Colt said it will deliver a new transpacific backbone route running on the Juno cable system (owned and operated by NTT and its partners), which links Tokyo to Los Angeles. The new route will link Colt’s terrestrial networks in Japan and the US, as it seeks to address surging demand driven by AI traffic.

It will support Colt’s financial services clients, neocloud companies and its hyperscaler partners, and follows recent announcements about the telco’s plans to invest in new routes linking Europe and the East Coast US.

Buddy Bayer, chief operating officer at Colt, stated: “The world’s economies run on digital infrastructure, but there will come a point when existing capacity across some routes isn’t enough. This risks disrupting or even reversing the progress countries have made in connecting markets, organisations and societies.

“At Colt, we have a deep commitment to solving problems for our customers so they can grow and scale. This investment in our digital infrastructure connecting the US West Coast to Tokyo, Japan not only solves the capacity problem for our customers – it’s a gateway to global growth”.

Juno is a new 11,700km subsea cable system that crosses the Pacific Ocean and lands in the Chiba and Shima Prefectures of Japan and Grover Beach, California. Owned by a consortium called Seren Juno, which is led by NTT, it was built by NEC and was ready for service in 2025. It delivers 350Tbit/s of total capacity, making it one of the largest transpacific subsea cable systems.

Colt’s new route will then extend through terrestrial networks to its points of presence in Tokyo, Osaka, Los Angeles and San Jose.

Last month, it announced a new transatlantic subsea cable route through the Marea Cable system, which is owned by Microsoft and Facebook and operated by Telefónica subsidiary Telxius. Marea links Virginia Beach, just north of Washington DC, to Bilbao in northern Spain.

Colt is just one of a number of long-distance operators seeking to meet the growing AI-fuelled network capacity demands of datacentre operators, enterprises and other network operators, with Arelion, Zayo and Lumen Technologies amongst those seeking to meet the demand for AI backbone services.

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV