PLDT completes optical undersea system between Japan and the Philippines

With the completion of the $400 million Asia Submarine-Cable Express (ASE) undersea cable system earlier this month, Philippines telecom provider PLDT says it has more than doubled its international bandwidth capacity while raising the resiliency of its overseas link. The 7200-km undersea cable network uses 40-Gbps technology that is upgradeable to 100 Gbps with a minimum design capacity of 15 Tbps.

The ASE consortium members include NTTCom of Japan (see "NTT Communications discusses fiber-optic cable project"), StarHub of Singapore, and TM of Malaysia. NEC Corp and Fujitsu Ltd were leading suppliers for the project.

“This is the largest-capacity international submarine cable system ever to land in the Philippines,” says Napoleon L. Nazareno, president and CEO of PLDT. “It is also the most secure. The ASE cable system significantly raises the resiliency of the country’s international communications links.”

Landing at Daet, Camarines Norte, the ASE initially provides direct optical links between Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore while avoiding the earthquake-prone seas south of Taiwan. The next phase is planned to expand into other Asian countries, such as China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Daet is PLDT’s third landing station, following Nasugbu, Batangas for the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2) and Southeast Asia-Middle East-West Europe 3 (SMW3), and Bauang, La Union for Asia-America Gateway (AAG).