PLDT to start its segment of new high-speed Internet ‘highway’

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. is set to start construction of its segment of a new undersea high-speed Internet “highway” that will further improve connection speeds for its broadband users. This is after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), in its en banc meeting last week, approved the company’s participation in the Asia Submarine-cable Express network. “International submarine cables provide connectivity for international telecommunications traffic,” the NTC noted in its approval. The NTC said the “ASE will benefit the public by providing additional capacity and higher speeds” for PLDT’s users. In January of this year, PLDT signed an agreement with telecom companies in Japan, Singapore and Malaysia to build a new fiber optic submarine cable in the Asia-Pacific region. PLDT will be the landing party in the Philippines. The company’s initial partners overseas are affiliate NTT Communications from Japan, StarHub in Singapore and Telekom Malaysia in Malaysia. The cable system will cost $304 million, with PLDT contributing $55 million, inclusive of a cable landing station in Daet, Camarines Norte. The facility is expected to be completed by the third quarter of next year. “The ASE submarine cable is expected to cater to the forecasted exponential growth in bandwidth requirements of the country for new and revolutionary broadband applications such as Internet protocol, video, data and other multimedia services,” PLDT said in its application. The company said the facility would also improve the redundancy of its network for its existing submarine facilities, namely the Asia Pacific Network 2, Guam Pacific, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Western Europe cable systems. The new system will connect Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and potentially China, as well as other Southeast Asian countries. PLDT is the country’s largest telecommunications company, serving more than 45 million subscribers as of the end of the first half.