PLDT invests P500M in international cable system

Industry giant PLDT Inc. is expecting to bolster internet quality in the Philippines with the start of operations of an Asia-Africa-Europe submarine cable before the end of the year.

PLDT said it is investing at least P500 million in the 25,000-kilometer international cable system, dubbed AAE-1.

“AAE-1 will further enhance the PLDT Group’s capability to offer its customers the latest bandwidth-heavy broadband applications that require international access, such as IP-based data, external video content, and other multimedia services,” Kat Luna-Abelarde, CEO of PLDT Global Corp., said in a statement on Thursday.

She added that the cable will increase resiliency, expand PLDT’s capacity and enhance the quality of data and internet connections.

The AAE-1 cable system, in tandem with the other international cable systems that land in the Philippines, will connect the country to 19 international destinations, namely, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Yemen, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and France.

“With AAE-1, the PLDT Group’s total international capacity will be over 4 Terabits per second (Tbps), significantly greater than that of competition, further underscoring the superiority of the PLDT network,” PLDT international network vice president Gene Sanchez said in the same statement.

The new cable system will become part of PLDT’s global network of 15 international cable systems, including four which land in the Philippines.

These are the Asia Submarine-Cable Express, the largest-capacity international submarine cable system in the Philippines with a landing station located in Daet, Camarines Norte; the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 and the Southeast Asia-Middle East-West Europe 3 which both land in Nasugbu, Batangas; and the Asia-America Gateway that lands in Bauang, La Union.