China Telecom Global Ltd. (CTG) of China, Globe Telecom, Inc. (Globe) and DITO Telecommunity Corp. (DITO) of the Philippines, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (Singtel) of Singapore, and Unified National Networks Sdn Bhd (UNN) of Brunei Darussalam have combined to create a consortium that will spend approximately $300 million to deploy the Asia Link Cable (ALC) submarine cable system in Southeast Asia. The consortium hired HMN Technologies Co., Ltd. as system supplier for the deployment, which is expected to complete by the third quarter of 2025.
The ALC submarine cable will have a minimum eight fiber pairs, with 18 Tbps/fiber pair as the minimum trunk design capacity. The undersea network will feature an open cable system architecture that will enable the parties who will use it to select and maintain independent line terminal equipment.
"ALC is a great accomplishment of Asian carriers which overcame difficulties of Covid impacts, and it is also the only subsea project with zero-face-to-face meetings from the MoU to the C&MA signing in the industry,” pointed out ALC Co-Chair Chang Weiguo (CTG). “ALC consortium adopts an open and inclusive principle and will attract more investors in the near future to make it more cost-effective, which will reinforce the resilience of interconnectivity in Asia and better serve digital economy in the region."
"We started planning and designing the ALC cable more than two years ago at the onset of the pandemic, having anticipated the inevitable growth in high-definition content consumption, trade, and innovation in this region,” added ALC Co-Chair Alan Tan (Singtel). “Despite the challenges presented by safe management restrictions, we managed to come up with a system that will help meet the evolving needs of consumers and enterprises and boost local economies today and in the near future."
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