UJC is the short name of for the Universal Jointing Consortium made up of four members:
- Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN)
- KDDI Cableships & Subsea Engineering Inc. (KCS)
- SubCom
The UJC members share a common aim to cooperate on the development and maintenance of a standardised cable jointing technology for underwater cables known as Universal Jointing (UJ), Universal Coupling (UC) and Universal Quick Joint (UQJ).
The origin of universal jointing for fibre optic cables goes back to the late 1980s, when AT&T, BT (Marine) Ltd and Les Cables de Lyon, formed a consortium to supply an universal jointing and coupling solution for installation and maintenance purposes. The aim was to supply a standard jointing technology platform that offers common tools and piece parts for assembly of joints in different cable types. By the early 1990s, the four members listed above were actively involved in the development of the universal jointing technology. The first consortium agreement was signed in 2000 to develop and improve the universal jointing technologies. The members have recently renewed the agreement to continuing their commitment and collaboration in this field.
Today, the majority of maintenance authorities for undersea telecommunications cables deploy UJ technology and standards on their cable systems worldwide.