DAVAO CITY—Globe Telecom on Friday said its $250-million Southeast Asia-United States submarine cable system here that provides direct and faster telecommunications connection between Mindanao and the US is now fully operational.
The construction of the cable system, which lands in Barangay (village) Talomo here, started about five years ago.
“Then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte helped us in terms of processing of permits and identification of the possible area for the landing station,” Globe CEO Ernest Cu said.
He said the commercial launch on Friday has provided Mindanao a much faster Internet connectivity – between 100 to 400 gigabytes per second.
The 14,500-kilometer SEA-US cable system that ends here was Globe’s first undersea cable system outside of Luzon.
“We are excited about this new investment because of the immense benefits that the undersea cable system will bring to the Philippines,” Cu said.
He said it would enable businesses dependent on Internet connectivity “to thrive and prosper with 1st world Internet at cost-efficient rates.”
He said Globe did not only maintain its being the telecom leader but also upped the ante with the facility.
Cu said this was also in support of the government’s efforts to make the Philippines globally competitive.
“The SEA-US cable system will augur well for businesses in Davao City. It will attract more players from major trade and industry centers in Mindanao and expand more BPO spaces – which means the creation of more jobs in the service sector and more livelihood oportunities for not only the people of Davao but also for neighboring cities and municipalities,” Peter Maquera, Globe Enterprise Group senior vice president, said.
Cu said the facility also aimed to ease the country’s dependence on international cable systems that becomes easily saturated, resulting in reduced speed, because there go through other countries such as in North Asia and Japan.
He said the establishment of the US SEA system landing station here would also enable Globe to put up a data center here in the near future.