Singtel in consortium to build high-performance Asia-Pacific submarine cable

SINGAPORE Telecommunications (Singtel) is part of a consortium of companies that is building a high-performance submarine cable connecting the Republic, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and China (Hong Kong and Guangdong province), the telco said on Thursday.

The 9,400-kilometre cable will feature multiple pairs of optical fibres and is designed to carry more than 140 Terabits per second of traffic, enabling high-capacity transmission of data across East and South-east Asia.

It will be constructed by NEC Corporation and is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022.

Apart from Singtel, other members of the Asia Direct Cable Consortium - which is building the cable - include China Telecom, SoftBank, Tata Communications, and Viettel.

Singtel's vice-president of carrier services, OTT, satellites and group enterprise Ooi Seng Keat said the cable will help the telco meet rapidly growing demand for high-speed connectivity to support advanced technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things-related services, and high-definition video.

"The new cable will enhance our infrastructure and also our ability to harness new technologies for future growth. Together with the Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 system to be completed next year, the Asia Direct Cable will boost diversity and resilience of our global network," he added. 

Singtel shares were trading at S$2.61 as at 3.10pm on Thursday, down S$0.04 or 1.5 per cent.