PLDT Inc. said Tuesday it is on track to complete the Apricot submarine cable system by 2027 that will enhance its international capacity.
Benedict Patrick Alcoseba, PLDT first vice president and head of enterprise product management and global capacity strategy, said the project is slated for 2027 completion, with Indonesian water permitting remains a significant hurdle.
He said the progress in Philippine waters is on track.
Alcoseba said the Apricot submarine project was supposed to be completed by 2026, but there was delay in permitting in Indonesia
“Apricot extends from the lower part of the Southeast Asia toward Guam. It increases the resiliency of the Philippines when we connect to diffiencet southeast asian countries,’ Alcocsba said.
“It also helps us to connect to the US via Guam. We would have more connections so that there are better resiliency and more capacity. So, there’s more stable internet,” he said.
PLDT is investing $80 million (P3.9 billion) in the APRICOT cable system, along with four other parties that formed the consortium.
The company earlier said it completed the cable laying for the branches of the Apricot cable system in Baler, Aurora and Digos, Davao.
The 12,000-kilometer-long Apricot cable system will be a state-of-the-art, high-capacity fiber-optic submarine cable system that will address the increasing telecommunications traffic capacity demands in the Asia Pacific region, with a system design capacity of more than 211Tbps.
A direct cable from Singapore to Japan via the Pacific Ocean, the Apricot cable system gives telecommunication companies alternate routes that do not traverse the usual West Philippine Sea waters.
It is reinforced by two landing points in the Philippines at two newly-built cable landing stations.
It will increase PLDT’s international capacity by up to 33 percent totaling to more than 140Tbps, further boosting the diversity and capacity of PLDT’s cable system portfolio.