THE PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has signed a deal with telecommunication companies in Japan and Singapore to build a $430-million “next generation, high bandwidth” optical fiber underwater cable system called Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE).
The 7,200-kilometer ASE system will link Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore. The system will also connect to Malaysia and potentially to mainland China, as well as other Southeast Asian countries, PLDT said in a press release.
The new system will carry commercial traffic beginning the third quarter of 2012.
The telco said its new cable landing station on the eastern coast of the Philippines will also provide enhanced network redundancy for “superior telecommunications services” for corporate, small and medium enterprises, and retail broadband customers.
The other parties who signed the ASE construction and maintenance agreement last Jan. 27 in Tokyo were NTT Communications of Japan and StarHub of Singapore. Telekom Malaysia signed a separate agreement with NTT Communications yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.
Genaro C. Sanchez, PLDT vice-president for network planning and engineering and international network operations, who signed the deal on behalf of PLDT, said PLDT will have additional bandwidth capacity through a new and diverse route, improving the resiliency of its international cable network in the Asia Pacific.
The ASE is designed to provide more than 15 terabits capacity of “field-proven” 40 gigabits per second (gbps) transmission technology and has the capability to incorporate 100 gbps optical technology in the future, PLDT said. This will cater to exponential growth in bandwidth requirements for new broadband applications, it added.
“Furthermore, the cable routes between the ASE terminal stations will cover the shortest possible distances to minimize latency. ASE will be installed along a route that will avoid as much as possible the critical earthquake prone area in the south of Taiwan,” PLDT said.
Mr. Sanchez also said that with the construction of a new cable station in the east coast of the Philippines, PLDT will be in a position to offer a “highly resilient international network that is expected to survive natural disasters similar to the major earthquake in the Bashi channel in December 2006.” The quake resulted in the temporary “isolation” of some countries.
If there are problems such as multiple cable cuts in the Bashi Channel, PLDT for example can divert its traffic towards Japan and the United States. Traffic can also be diverted to corporate circuits normally routed via west coast cable stations in Batangas and La Union, where other cable systems such as APCN2 and AAG land, and onto PLDT’s own DFON system, exiting the new east coast cable station toward the ASE.
The same route using PLDT’s DFON can also be used by other international carriers.
“It will also address the upcoming retirement of older cables,” Mr. Sanchez added.
ASE will be supplied jointly by NEC Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. The supply contract was sealed on the same day that the ASE deal was signed.
I.T. Matters - A BusinessWorld Publication
PLDT joins regional venture to build "Asia Submarine-cable Express"
Originally Posted by tazacar
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