December 10, 2009
Manila, Philippines, 10 December 2009 – A group of major telecom and technology companies today signed a landmark agreement to build and operate the Southeast Asia Japan Cable system or SJC, a new international submarine cable system with the highest capacity in the world. The new cable system will address broadband demand by providing much needed capacity and faster, more reliable connectivity to sustain the unprecedented growth in data, web applications and Internet traffic throughout Asia.
The SJC system, estimated to cost US$400 million and measure 8300 km, will initially link Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan. The 6-fiber-pair high capacity submarine cable system has a design capacity of 17 Terabits per second (Tbps) upgradeable to 23 Tbps, the highest capacity system ever built so far.
Initiating parties to this breakthrough project include Globe Telecom (Philippines), Google (USA), KDDI (Japan), Network i2i (a 100% subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, India), Reliance Globalcom (through FLAG Pacific Limited, Bermuda), and Telemedia Pacific Inc., Ltd. (Hong Kong/Indonesia). Other initial parties have signified their intent to participate in the project once requisite approvals have been obtained.
Ernest Cu, President and CEO of Globe said, "Globe as a premier telecommunications company is known to be a pioneer and leader in service innovation in the Philippines. True to our mission, we are proud to partner with some of world's eminent telcos in the region and the world. This breakthrough project will link the Philippines to the Southeast Asia Japan Cable System and give our customers enhanced data connectivity going out of the Philippines to Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, and onwards to the US."
Hady Hartanto, Chairman of Telemedia Pacific Inc., (TPI) said, "We are delighted to partner with some of the world's largest telco players in building this pan-Asia cable system. By providing an exclusive link to Indonesia, Telemedia will not only enhance the geographical coverage of the cable system, we will also be able to address the fast growing bandwidth demand for broadband transmission between Indonesia and the key Asian gateways of Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, and thereon to the rest of the world."
"With SJC complementing our existing Asia network, our customers will be able to address a population of over 66 million people and a GDP of $ 7500 Bn in addition to India and China markets," said Mr. Punit Garg President and CEO, Reliance Globalcom. "We will now be uniquely positioned to provide to our customers' Voice, Internet and Data Services across the entire Asian continent connecting the top 10 key business markets in Asia Pac. In addition to improved network redundancy at multiple levels, our customers will now be able to expand their networks in the growing South East Asian markets of Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines," he added.
The initiating parties signed the agreements in Manila on December 10, 2009. The SJC is targeted to be operational by the second quarter of 2012.
