PLDT to construct $75M cable network link to East and Southeast Asia

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. announced the construction of a 9,400-kilometer subsea cable that will see the telco connecting to an international cable network across East and Southeast Asia. 

The move will see the initial phase of construction of the $75 million Asia Direct Cable taking place in Batangas, according to a disclosure sent to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday. This comes after the telco’s launch of the Jupiter cable system.

The Pangilinan-led telco said the project will finish construction of all landing links by the end of 2023. The project will provide PLDT with an international network capacity of at least 36 Terabytes per second, which will enable faster speeds for hyperscale data delivery across East and Southeast asia.

“Along with PLDT’s existing international submarine cable systems, the Asia Direct Cable will boost and diversify the Philippines’ connectivity within the Asian region,” said Al Panlilio, company president & chief executive officer.

Submarine optic fiber cables are essential components of internet infrastructure. Consumers and businesses in the Philippines have long endured less-than-optimal internet bandwidth speeds from service providers, considering that subscriptions are almost as expensive as their developed counterparts. 

That said, PLDT noted that the activation of ADC and Apricot cables systems will increase their international cable systems to 19. This move would also boost PLDT’s international network capacity from 60 Tbps to 130 Tbps. 

ADC is a global consortium comprised of PLDT, China Telecom, China Unicom, National Telecom, Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications and Viettel Group.

PLDT noted that ADC will connect to seven international cable landing points once completed. Those points will be located in Tuas, Singapore; Chung Hom Kok, Hong Kong; Maruyama, Japan; Quy Nhon, Vietnam; Sri Racha, Thailand; and Shantou, China.