Globe vows faster Internet speed with new subsea cable

Subscribers of Globe Telecom Inc. are expected to experience faster Internet speeds on their mobile devices after the Ayala-run firm launched its South-East Asia Japan Cable (SJC) last Friday.

In a briefing, Globe’s head of international and business markets Gil Genio said the new undersea cable would expand the telecommunication firm’s capacity to service the strong demand for data services in the Philippines.

“Internet use in our country is growing exponentially,” he said. “More and more people are going online through their mobile phones, and more and more are using content that is data-heavy.”

He said the SJC system would result in an immediate and palpable improvement in Internet speeds for Globe subscribers—those who use social media heavily as well as bandwith-hogging video streaming services like YouTube or Vimeo.

“You might be surprised to know that about 30 percent of the Internet usage today is for video (services),” said Genio. This demand results in a bottleneck in the undersea cable systems that connect the Philippines with the rest of the world, and SJC would broaden the data “highways” available for local users, he explained.

SJC is Globe’s fifth major investment in submarine cable systems. Operated by a global consortium of leading telecommunications and technology companies, including Globe, SJC was successfully constructed after two years of groundwork and provisioning between Globe and its partners. The trans-Asian cable is now fully operational with available data traffic, streaming an initial design capacity of 28 terabits per second deployed by six fiber pairs.

This technological development in East Asia will enable telecommunications services by Globe through its link-up with SJC, providing interconnectivity within the Philippines and between the country and its Asian neighbors.

Spanning almost 9,000 kilometers, the $400-million submarine cable has one of the highest capacities in the world. It addresses bandwidth-intensive applications such as Internet TV, online games and enterprise data exchange. The cable’s superior design capacity can support simultaneous streaming of up to 3 million high-definition videos. According to SJC officials, the cable’s massive capacity can download the entire amount of content of the US Library of Congress in 1.5 seconds.

The investment of Globe in SJC translates into significantly increased capacity and added geographic diversity to the Philippines’ international connectivity.  The system will enable Globe to increase its capability to meet the growing telecommunication needs of its corporate clientele by providing resilient bandwidth.