PLDT starts work on Asian submarine cable to boost internet

To expand its network capacity, PLDT Inc. has begun constructing the first phase of a 9,400-kilometer subsea cable system linking the Philippines to six international landing points across Asia.

The Pangilinan-led telecommunications firm, in a statement on Monday, said the $75-million Asia Direct Cable (ADC), a project with various telecommunications firms across the region, was expected to be activated by the end of 2023. Cable laying started in Batangas.

From the Philippines, ADC will then be connected to Tuas, Singapore; Chung Hom Kok, Hong Kong; Maruyama, Japan; Quy Nhon, Vietnam; Sri Racha, Thailand; and Shantou, China.

ADC is a global consortium that also includes China Telecom, China Unicom, National Telecom, Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications and Viettel Group.

“Along with PLDT’s existing international submarine cable systems, the [ADC] will boost and diversify the Philippines’ connectivity within the Asian region,” PLDT president and CEO Al S. Panlilio said.

The cable system was set to increase international network capacity by at least 36 terabytes per second, which PLDT said would result in faster delivery of hyperscale data across East and Southeast Asia.

PLDT explained that submarine fiber optic cables were a crucial component of the internet infrastructure as these carry the data that allow digital trade across the world.

Jojo Gendrano, PLDT senior vice president and head of enterprise business group, said the subsea cable project was in line with the telco’s goal of supporting digital infrastructures, including data centers.

“The [ADC] will strongly bolster PLDT’s mission to make the Philippines the next hyperscaler destination in the Asia-Pacific,” Gendrano added.

Hyperscalers are entities providing cloud, networking and internet services. These include Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google GCP, Alibaba AliCloud, IBM and Oracle.

In June, PLDT activated the 14,000-kilometer US-Transpacific Jupiter Cable System. INQ