Globe Telecom Inc. is building a new international cable landing station in Mindanao worth $80 million or P3.7 billion, as a part of a network redundancy plan to meet the growing demand of mobile and broadband services in the country.
The Ayala-led telecom company, in a filing with the National Telecommunications Commission, is seeking a provisional authority to install, operate and maintain an international cable landing station in Davao City.
“There is an urgent public need for immediate implementation of the proposed project that would warrant the immediate issuance of a provisional authority,” Globe said.
Globe said the Philippines urgently needed additional capacity for international services to address the growing demand brought about by the rapid growth of the cellular mobile telephone services leased line, Internet and other telecommunications services.
“Needless to say, this proposed cable landing system, which will bring to the fore the most modern and seamless telecommunications technology, will be a vital instrument in nation-building and economic recovery,” Globe said.
The international cable landing station in Davao is a part of the $250-million Southeast Asia-US undersea cable system, which will provide super latency, delivering an additional 20 terabits per second capacity and utilizing latest 100 gigabits per second transmission equipment.
Of the total investment, Globe will chip in $80 million for the project. Other members of the SEA-US consortium are PT Teleckomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Telkom USA, GTI Corp. (a member of the Globe Group of companies), Ram Telecom International, Teleguam Holdings and Hawaiian Telecom.
The SEA-US cable project will be undertaken by NEC. The new undersea cable system is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2016.
“By routing south of the Philippines, the SEA-US system will avoid the disaster-prone Luzon Strait and thereby enhance the continuity of communications between the United States and Asia,” Globe said.
Linking five areas and territories that include Manado (Indonesia), Davao (Philippines), Piti (Guam), Oahu (Hawaii, United States) and Los Angeles (California, United States), the SEA-US project will be about 15,000 kilometers in length, providing route diversity from the North Pacific and avoiding earthquake prone areas in East Asia.
The SEA-US system will help satisfy the burgeoning demand for international connectivity not just in Indonesia and the Philippines, but also in other Southeast Asian countries.
The cable system is expected to provide more efficient connectivity to about 1.5 billion people.
Globe is also a member of an international consortium of telecommunications and technology companies operating the Southeast Asia-Japan Cable System.
SJC is an 8,900-kilometer cable system linking seven territories that include Brunei, mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines, including the option to link with Thailand.
The cable infrastructure is currently being upgraded to bring an increase of 6.5 terabit per second capacity with the state of the art technology.
Globe has also made investments in the East Asia Cable System, Asia Pacific Cable Network-2, Tata Global Network-Intra Asia cable system, the City to City cable system and is interconnected with major Trans-Pacific Cable systems, which encompasses the Unity, Tata Global Network Pacific and the Japan-US Cable Network.