PLDT rolls out $75 million submarine cable system

MANILA, Philippines — Telco giant PLDT Inc. has started laying down its $75-million submarine cable system to raise its international capacity with new links to East and Southeast Asia.

PLDT has started installing the 9,400-kilometer Asia Direct Cable (ADC) that seeks to put up seven international landing points across multiple areas in the continent.

The initial station originating in the Philippines would reach China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, enhancing PLDT’s linkage to data offices operating across the region.

Jojo Gendrano, senior vice president and head of enterprise business group at PLDT, said the ADC would increase the international capacity of the telco by 36 terabits per second.

When it goes live next year, PLDT should accumulate a total capacity of 96 terabits per second in connecting to data sites abroad.

Subscribers are expected to benefit from the improved capacity of PLDT to hook up to digital platforms, such as Facebook and Google.

Furthermore, the submarine cable system also aims to strengthen the resiliency of PLDT to support the growing demand for data with everyday transactions shifting online.

“We are excited to add 36 terabits per second in capacity because that gets us from 60 terabits per second now to 96 terabits per second,” Gendrano told reporters.

“Considering the demand for digital is immense, Filipinos love to access the internet, that’s why there is a large traffic that telco providers have to support,” Gendrano added.

After the Philippines, the ADC would touch base in Tuas, Singapore; Chung Hom Kok, Hong Kong; Quy Nhon, Vietnam; Sri Racha, Thailand; and Shantou, China.

On the other hand, PLDT said the trunk segment to Maruyama, Japan, was delivered during the initial stage of the marine works.

Once finished, this would serve as the third underwater cable system hosted by PLDT’s landing spot in Batangas, the other two being the SEA-ME-WE3 that links to the Middle East and Europe and the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2.

PLDT vice president and global capacity strategy head Gene Sanchez said the telco intends to keep on investing in additional cable systems as part of its strategy to go international.

With the subsea cable links it manages, PLDT wants to attract tech giants into the Philippines.

The global consortium that includes PLDT, China Telecom, China Unicom, National Telecom, and Singtel aims to complete the new cable system.

Prior to the ADC, PLDT in July fired up the Jupiter cable system that expanded the telco giant’s international capacity to 60 terabits per second.