C2C

The Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN-2) is a 19,000-km submarine cable system linking Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore in a ring configuration, with four fiber-pairs connecting 10 submarine cable landing stations in Asia region, ready for service on December 20, 2001.

The APCN-2 is the first submarine cable system that has a self-healing function in the Asia region, and is capable of restoring itself instantly with its ring configuration when a failure occurs in a part of the system.

The APCN-2 has an initial design capacity of 2.56 Tbps by operating with 64x10 Gbps DWDM technology and four fiber-pairs ring.

The total initial investment of APCN-2 project is more than US$ 1 billion, including US$800 million supply contract awarded to NEC Corporation.

In 2010, the APCN-2 cable system was upgraded with 40Gbps DWDM technology. And it was further upgraded with 100Gbps DWDM technology in 2014. 

For further information, please refer to articles about APCN-2 Consortium and APCN-2 cable network.

The EAC-C2C Network is a merger of the EAC network and the C2C network, Asia’s largest privately-owned submarine cable network, with a design capacity of 17.92 Tbps to 30.72 Tbps, a total cable length of 36,800 km, and 17 cable landing stations covering Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore. 

The East Asia Crossing (EAC) cable system spans 19,800 km, linking Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore. The EAC network was initially constructed by Asia Global Crossing which was acquired by China Netcom in 2002. And then China Netcom sold out Asia Netcom (including the EAC network assets) to an investor group led by Ashmore and Spinnaker in 2006.

The City-to-City (C2C) cable system stretches 17,000, linking Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore. The C2C network was initially constructed by SingTel in 2000-2002.

In 2007, Asia Netcom (now Pacnet) took over the control of C2C and merged the EAC and C2C networks into an integrated EAC-C2C Network.

In 2008, Pacnet Internet and Asia Netcom merged to form new Pacnet.

In April 2015, Telstra completed the acquisition of Pacnet. EAC-C2C network is now wholy owned by Telstra. 

For more description on EAC and C2C cable systems, please visit EAC cable system overview and C2C cable system overview.

The Flag North Asian Loop(FNAL) or Reach North Asian Loop (/RNAL) each represents a part of a 9,800 km Intra-Asia submarine cable system, the North Asian Loop submarine cable system linking Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong in a ring configuration.

The entire FNAL/RNAL submarine cable system consists of 6 fiber pairs, initially designed with 64x10 Gbps DWDM technology. Reliance Globalcom (FLAG Telecom) and PCCW Global (Reach) each owns three of the six fiber pairs respectively.

The North Asian Loop cable system was jointly built by FLAG Telecom and Level 3 Communication.

Level 3 Communications built its eastern leg connecting Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan and put it into service in July 2001. In the end of 2001, Reach acquired the North Asian Loop and other assets from Level 3 Communications. In March 2011, PCCW Global announced the completion of Reach's joint-venture alignment to take over most part of Reach's assets including the RNAL.

FLAG Telecom built the western leg connecting Hong Kong, Korea and Japan. And Reliance acquired FLAG Telecom in 2003.

In August 2011, Reliance Globalcom successfully upgraded it FNAL to 40G submarine network, to introduce 10G LAN PHY and OTN services in the FNAL submarine cable network. 

PCCW Global announced in January 2012 to upgrade the RNAL with 100G network solutions.

For more information about the FNAL/RNAL cable system, please click here

RNAL

TGN-Intra Asia Cable System (TGN-IA) is a private Intra-Asia submarine cable system constructed, owned and operated by Tata Communications. The TGN-IA cable spans 6800 km, consists of 4 fibre pairs linking Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Guam, with a design capacity of 3.84 Tbit/s. The TGN-IA cable route was deliberately designed to avoid areas prone to earthquakes and other hazardous areas, such as south and east coast of Taiwan Island. The TGN-IA cable system offers a low latency direct route between Tokyo and Singapore (63 ms). And the TGN-IA, the TIC and the TGN-Pacific together form an integrate submarine network to connect Asia and the United States.

Matrix Cable System (MCS) is a carrier neutral international fiber optic submarine cable that serves Singapore - Jakarta with high speed, high capacity and non-stop quality links. The MCS cable spans approximately 1055km from Singapore to Jakarta, with maximum design capacity of 2.56Tbps.  The MCS Offers PoP-to-PoP Connectivity between Singapore and Indonesia. The MCS was Ready for Provisional Acceptance (RFPA) on August 7, 2008.

The MCS cable system is privately owned and operate by PT NAP Info Lintas Nusa (Matrix, or Matrix NAP Info), a prominent telecommunication company based in Jakarta, Indonesia, founded in 2000. Matrix operates  Matrix Cable System (MCS), Matrix Cable Internet Exchange (MC-IX) Matrix Data Center, Matrix Cloud, Matrix Internet and Matrix Nap.

Matrix NAP Info network presents in several data center locations such as Biznet Midplaza Jakarta, Biznet Technovillage, Lintasarta Data Center, Telkomsigma Serpong & Sentul, Omadata Surabaya, DCI Indonesia located in Cibitung, Bekasi and EDGE Data Center located in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, etc.

Matrix NAP Info together with PT Communication Cable Systems Indonesia Tbk. (CCSI) is constructing a 3,400km Varuna Cable System (VCS) connecting Indonesia's islands, including Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Labuan Bajo, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Bawean and Madura island.

TIC (Tata Indicom Cable), also known as TIISCS (Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System), is a submarine cable linking India and Singapore. The TIC cable spans 3,175 km, lands in  Chennai, India and Changi, Singapore. Construction of the cable TIC began in November 2003 and went on live on September 15, 2004. The TIC cable system comprises of 8 fiber pairs, operates with 64x10 Gbps DWDM technology, with a design capacity of 5.12 Tbps. The TIC cable system is 100% owned and operated by Tata Communications.

The MIC-1 (Moratelindo International Cable-system One) is a linear repeaterless optic fiber submarine cable system connecting Singapore and Batam Island, Indonesia. The MIC cable length is about 70km, lands at Changi Cable Landing Station and Batam Cable Landing Station.

The MIC1 cable system has been designed to have a minimum capacity of 10Gbits (STM-64) with the capability of accommodating Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM). The MIC cable system was ready for service in January 2008.

The MIC cable system is a private cable constructed, owned and operated by Moratelindo (PT Mora Telematika Indonesia), a wholesale telecom infrastructure providers established in 2000 in Indonesia.

Moratelindo, through its subsidiary Moratel (International) PTE Ltd, acquired Facilities-Based Operations (FBO) license in Singapore in September 2010 to deploy the inland backhaul cable within Singapore territory from landing point Changi to Global Switch.

The Korea-Japan Cable Network (KJCN) is a consortium cable with diverse direct connections between Korea and Japan.

The KJCN cable system consists of 12 fiber pairs on both cable routes, with a total cable length of 500km and an initial design capacity of 2.88 Tbps on each route.

There is no repeater and hence no PFE (Power Feeding Equipment) in the KJCN cable system.

The C&MA of the KJCN was signed on May 25, 2001, and the KJCN was ready for service on March 23, 2002, offering high quality, reliance broadband services for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan.

In March 2001, SingTel and Bharti Group formed a 50:50 private submarine cable development company, Network i2i, for the construction of the i2i cable network (i2icn) which was the world's largest cable network in terms of bandwidth capacity (8.4 Tbps) then.  The i2i submarine cable consists of 8 fiber pairs connecting Tuas cable landing station in Singapore and Chennai cable landing station in India, spans 3100 km. The entire i2i cable network utilises the latest Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, with 105 wavelengths of 10 Gbps when fully equipped.  The i2i cable network was completed in April 2002. In January 2007, the i2i cable network became 100% owned by Bharti Airtel.

The South-East Asia Japan Cable System (SJC) is a 8900 km (to be extended to 9700 km later) submarine cable system connecting 7 Asian countries and regions including Brunei, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand. The  SJC was ready for service on June 27, 2013.

The SJC cable consists of 6 fiber pairs, with an initial design capacity of 28 Tbps. The SJC cable system utilizes the state-of-the-art advanced 100G SLTE and OADM Branching technologies.  

The SJC cable system is supplied by NEC and TE SubCom, with a total cost of about US$400 million. 

For more details, please visit SJC cable system overview. 

The Asia-Pacific Gateway (APG) is a 10400km submarine cable system linking 8 countries and regions in Asia region, i.e., Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, Japan, and Korea.

The APG cable system consists of 6 fiber pairs in the trunk, initially designed with 128*40 Gbps DWDM technology and system capacity of 30.72Tbps, upgradable to 100 Gbps wavelength. APG consortium announced the system capcity as 54.8Tbps based on different calculation.

When it was initiated in May 2009, the APG consortium included PLDT(the Philippines), Chunghwa Telecom(Taiwan), China Telecom and China Unicom (mainland China), KT Corp. (South Korea), NTT Communications (Japan), Telekom Malaysia (Malaysia), and VNPT (Vietnam). PLDT and Telekom Malaysia were dropped off to participate in the ASE consortium.

APG, ASE  and SJC are three submarine cables on the Japan-Hong Kong-Singapore route. 

NTT Com, PLDT, StarHub and Telekom Malaysia comprise consortium members of the Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE). While KDDI, SingTel, China Telecom, China Mobile, Globe Telecom and Google team up for the South-East Asia Japan Cable (SJC).

On December 20,2011, the APG consortium which includes Chunghwa Telecom, KT and NTT and other members signed in Beijing the APG C&MA. But the APG C&MA was not effective until early July 2012 when Facebook and Time dotCom were enrolled to form the final 12-member APG consortium, including China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, Facebook, KT Corp, LG Uplus, NTT Communications, StarHub, Time dotCom (Global Transit)  Viettel and VNPT.

APG consortium selected NEC as the system supplier. The total cost of APG cable system is approximately USD560 million (inclusive of landing cost).

The APG cable system has been ready for service as of Oct 28, 2016.

The Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE) is a 8148km intra-Asia submarine cable system constructed by a consortium including NTT, PLDT, StarHub and Telekom Malaysia.

The ASE cable consists of 6 fiber pair, connecting Japan to the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore,with branch to Hong Kong.  

The ASE cable system was initially designed with 40 Gbps transmission and OADM technologies, with a design capacity of 15Tbps,  upgradable to a maximum design capacity of 51Tbps using 100 Gbps technology.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) owns one-third stake and two dedicated fiber pairs in the ASE cable system, with which TM builds its wholly owned Cahaya Malaysia Cable system.

The ASE cable system was launched for service on August 20, 2012, supplied by Fujitsu and NEC, with a total cost of about USD430 million, in which Telekom Malaysia invested about USD140 million and PLDT invested about USD55 million.

The ASE cable system lands at the following cable landing stations:

• Shin-Maruyama, Japan
• Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong
• Daet, Philippines
• Mersing, Malaysia
• Changi, Singapore

The ASE cable system is carefully designed to avoid earthquake zone in South Taiwan, offer ultra low latency between Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore by terminating in the neighborhood of Stock Exchanges in Hong Kong and Singapore and landing directly at NTT’s Hong Kong Financial Data Center in Tseung Kwan O.

The typical latency (RTD) over ASE cable system is:

• Hong Kong Stock Exchange to @Tokyo data center: 42.3ms
• Singapore Stock Exchange to @Tokyo data center: 60.0ms
• Singapore Equinix SG1 to Seattle Westin data center: 150ms (over ASE+PC-1 north)
• Malaysia Mersing CLS to @Tokyo data center: 54 ms

Cahaya Malaysia is a two-fibre-pair cable system which is part of the 6-fibre-pair Asia Submarine-cable Express(ASE). While Cahaya Malaysia is owned by TM, the remaining 4 fibre pairs of the ASE are owned by NTT, StarHub and PLDT.

The Bharat Lanka Cable System is a 320-km submarine cable systems connecting  India and Sri Lanka. Initially it will have a capacity of 40 Gbit/s that will later be upgraded to 960 Gbit/s.

The Thailand - Indonesia - Singapore Cable Network (TIS) is a 1100-km regional submarine network linking Songkhla (Thailand), Batam (Indonesia) and Changi (Singapore). The TIS consortium includes CAT Telecom Public Company Ltd. of Thailand (CAT), PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk of Indonesia (Telin) and Singapore Telecommunications Limited of Singapore (SingTel) which jointly invested 36 million to build the TIS cable network.

The TIS was ready for service on December 2, 2003, with an lit capacity of 30 Gbps and upgradeable up to 320Gbit/s.

The Dumai Malaka Cable System (DMCS) is a 147-km repeaterless submarine telecommunications cable system connecting Dumai in Indonesia and Malaka in Malaysia. The DMCS was ready for service in 2005, with a design capacity of 320 Gbps and lit capacity of 20 Gbps. The Dumai Malaka Cable System is supplied by NEC .

The Batam-Dumai-Melaka (BDM) submarine cable connects Malaysia and Indonesia with two routes, Melaka-Batam and Melaka-Dumai. The total cable lenght is approximately 400km.

The BDM cable runs across the Strait of Malacca, crossing over multiple existing submarine cables. There are extraordinarily busy shipping lanes, strong tidal currents and shoal water area, with 60 m as maximum depth. The BDM cable is buried 3 meters under the seabed.

The BDM cable system consists of 4 fiber pairs, two fiber pairs on each of Melaka-Batam and Melaka-Dumai routes, with a total system capacity up to 2.56Tbps (64ch x 10G x 4fp).

The BDM consortium comprises Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM),  PT XL Axiata Tbk and PT Mora Telematika Indonesia (Moratelindo). Huawei Marine Networks (now HMN Tech) offers end-to-end turnkey submarine system solutions for the BDM project.

The BDM cable system was ready for service in December, 2011.

The West Asia Crossing (WAC) is a intra-Asia submarine cable system planed by Pacnet. The WAC connects India through a landing station in Chennai, to both Malaysia and Singapore. The WAC is also designed to offer the flexibility of extending connectivity into Bangladesh and Sri Lanka through separate branching units, as well as the possibility of a second cable landing point in Mumbai to offer additional capacity to cables landing off the west coast of India.

The WAC will have a design capacity of 6 to 8 Tbps, with a ready-for-service (RFS) date targeted around early 2012.

The WAC project has not been implemented.

The Taiwan Strait Express-1 (TSE-1, also known as Tanshui-Fuzhou Submarine Cable) is the first submarine cable across the Taiwan Strait, linking Tanshui, Taiwan island and Fuzhou, mainland China. The TSE-1 submarine cable is about 270 Km, consists of 8 optical fiber pairs. The design capacity of the TSE-1 submarine cable system is 6.4 Tbps.

The TSE-1 consortium consists of China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile from mainland China, and Chuanghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, Far Eastone,and TIGC from Taiwan.

The TSE-1 cable project was completed on January 18, 2013.

Though the TSE-1 is widely toasted as the first submarine cable linking Taiwan island and mainland China, the first submarine optical fibre cable linking Taiwan and mainland China is the Kinmen-Xiamen submarine cable system which was ready for service on August 21, 2012, linking Kinmen island, Taiwan and Xiamen, mainland China.

The India Cloud Xchange (ICX) subsea cable system is a private cable to be constructed by Global Cloud Xchange (former Reliance GlobalCom), delivering a direct Mumbai-Singapore route to bypass current outage prone terrestrial routes between Mumbai and Chennai. The ICX subsea cable runs approximately 5,060 kilometers between Mumbai and Singapore.

Based on state-of-the-art 100G technology, the ICX cable is a four fiber pair system with initial design capacity per fiber pair at 80 x 100G.

The ICX cable system is expected to be ready for service in Q2 2016.

The ICX project has not been implemented.

The Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) is a 8,000 km subsea cable system connect the UAE, Oman, India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, with a diverse terrestrial network from Malaysia to the Singapore points-of-presence at Equinix and Global Switch.

BBG consortium comprises Telekom Malaysia, Vodafone Group, Omantel, Etisalat, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Dialog Axiata.

Based on 100G DWDM coherent technology, BBG offers capacity of 10 Tbps per fibre pair on its three fiber pairs.

BBG goes live on April 8, 2016.

SEA Cable Exchange-1 (SeaX-1) comprises a 250km high-speed, large capacity, 24-fibre pair undersea fiber optic cable that connects Mersing (Malaysia), Changi (Singapore), and Batam (Indonesia). 

At Mersing, fiber backhaul connects to two major data centers in Kuala Lumpur, i.e. AIMS DC and CSF CX2 at Cyberjaya.  In Batam Island, fiber backhaul connects to Graha Pena and IDC at Batam Center. In Singapore, fiber backhaul connects to Global Switch Data Center. 

The SeaX-1 cable system is fully owned and operated by Super Sea Cable Networks Pte. Ltd..

The SeaX-1 cable system was ready for service in June 2018.

The Southeast Asia–Japan 2 (SJC2) submarine cable system spans 10500km, connecting 11 cable landing stations in Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, Korea and Japan. 

The SJC2 cable features eight fibre pairs, at least 18Tbps of capacity per fiber pair, with initial design capacity of 144 Tbps.

SJC2 consortium comprises of China Mobile International (CMI), Chuan Wei, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), Donghwa Telecom (DHT), Facebook, KDDI, Singtel, SK Broadband (SKB), Telin, TICC (True) and VNPT.

SJC2 consortium selected NEC as the turn-key supplier.

The intial cost of SJC2 cable system is about US$440million. While its earlier generation SJC cable system cost about USD400 million for an intial design capacity of 28Tbps and cable length of 8900km. 

It is reported that TRUE will spend around Bt3.6 billion (approximately USD110 million) on SJC2 cable sytem and acquire 9Tbps (1/16 of the system capacity). 

TKO Express is the first submarine cable to directly link Chai Wan and Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate (TKOIE) in Hong Kong. With 1,728 fiber cores, spanning just 3.5 km across Tathong Channel, TKO Express provides a direct, low-latency path to link data centers in Chaiwan and the emerging data centre hub at Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate (TKOIE).

TKO Express is 18.2 km shorter than the alternate route from Sino Favor Centre to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). The short, direct path delivers the low-latency financial organisations demand for real-time transactions.

TKO Express is built, owned and operated by Superloop.

TKO Express was ready for service in june 28, 2017.

The Ultra Express Link (UEL) is a 3km high-capacity, low latency subsea cable system connecting the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate (TKOIE) with the Chai Wan area in Hong Kong.

The UEL cable system provides additional diversity in connectivity for the multiple data centers in TKOIE, and serves to position the TKOIE as Asia’s data center hub.

THe UEL is built, owned and operated by HKT which is majority-owned by PCCW Limited. PCCW Global is the international operating division of HKT.

Chennai-the Andaman & Nicobar Islands (A&N Islands) submarine cable system includes a segment with repeaters from Chennai to Port Blair and seven segments without repeaters between the islands of Havelock, Little Andaman (Hutbay), Car Nicobar, Kamorta, the Great Nicobar Islands, Long Island and Rangat. The total cable length will be approximately 2,300km and carry 100Gb/s optical waves.

The Chennai-A&N Island submarine cable system is invested by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL),and supplied by NEC. BSNL is a state-owned telecom operator in India. It's reported that the government of India spent $175 million on the 2300km Chennai-A&N Island submarine cable system.

On August 10, 2020, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Chennai-A&N Island submarine cable between Chennai and Port Blair via video conferencing. The Chennai-A&N Island submarine cable system will deliver bandwidth of 2 x 200 Gbps between Chennai and Port Blair, and 2 x 100 Gbps between Port Blair and the other islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands chain.

The Pak-China Optic Fiber Cable (Pak-China OFC) covers a distance of 822 kilometers and runs from Rawalpindi till Khunjerab pass to connect with China.

The Pak-China OFC is operated and maintained by Special Communication Organization, deployed by Huawei Technologies at a total cost of $44 million.

Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) cable system connects Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand, spans approximately 1,300 kilometers, adopts 100 Gbps technology with a system capacity of 30+ Tbps.

The MCT cable system lands at Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Rayong in Thailand and Cherating (near Kuantan, Penang) in Malaysia respectively.

The MCT cable system is jointly built by Telcotech, a subsidiary of EZECOM in Cambodia, Symphony Communication of Thailand and  Telekom Malaysia.

The MCT cable system launched for service in March 2017, with an initial capacity of 1.5Tbps.

In Cambodia, the MCT cable system connects to AAG and other submarine cable system. Telcotech is the only Cambodian member of the AAG which links Southeast Asia to the USA.

As the landing party for MCT cable system in Thailand, Symphony is the first private submarine cable operator in Thailand, owns and operates the Maolee Cable Landing Station in Rayong, Thailand.

Royal Bengal Tiger-2 (RBT-2) a new submarine cable connecting Bangladesh to Singapore, with 8 fiber pairs.

The RBT-2 is initiated and invested by SBSCL, SPARKbANGLA Submarine Cables Ltd, and is expected to be ready for service in March 2023.

The Myanmar/Malaysia India Singapore Transit (MIST) cable system has a total length of 8,100km, connecting Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, India (Mumbai and Chennai). 

The MIST cable system consists of 12 fiber pairs, with more than 216Tbps system capacity. The total intial cost of the MIST cable system is approximately US$400million. 

The MIST cable system is invested by Orient Link Pte. Ltd. (OLL), a strategic joint venture of NTT Ltd., Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japan’s ICT and Postal Services Inc. (JICT) , WEN Capital Pte. Ltd., incorporated for international submarine cables in Singapore on October 10, 2019.

NEC Corporation (NEC) wins the agreement to build the MIST Cable System (MIST).

The India-Asia-Xpress (IAX) is a submarine cable connecting Mumbai and Chennai to Singapore and interconnects with the India-Europe-Xpress (IEX) in Mumbai to reach the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

The IAX cable system has 12 cable landing stations across five nations, with branches in Matara (Sri Lanka), Satun (Thailand), and Morib (Malaysia), in addition to the main trunk from Tuas (Singapore) to Mumbai.

The IAX is built by Reliance Jio Infocomm and is expected to be operational in 2023/2024.

Hainan to Hong Kong Express (H2HE) is a 675 km submarine cable system connecting Hong Kong SAR and Hainan Province, Mainland China, with branch to Guangdong Province.

The H2HE cable system is the first 16 fiber-pair repeatered submarine cable system in the world, designed with SDM technology, achieving 19.2Tbps capacity per fiber pair, and 307.2Tbps system capacity. 

The H2HE cable system is invested and owned by China Mobile, supplied by HMN Tech.

The SIGMAR cable system is a 2,227km connecting Singapore and Myanmar, landing in Tuas in Singapore and in Thanlyin, southeast of Yangon in Myanmar.

The SIGMAR cable consists of four fiber pairs, running through the Andaman Sea and along the Straits of Malacca

The SIGMAR cable system connects Myanmar directly to Singapore, with branching units to enable optional landing in Thailand and future interconnections with other cables.

The SIGMAR cable system  is invested Campana Group, partnering with Telin Singapore which will offer access to the landing site at Tuas as well as local connectivity in Singapore.

SIGMAR is scheduled to be ready for service in 2020.

The Maldives Sri Lanka Cable system (MSC) is a four fiber pairs subsea cable system connecting the Maldives and Sri Lanka, landing in Hulhumalé and Mount Lavinia.

The MSC consortium includes Ooredoo Maldives PLC (Ooredoo Maldives), Dhivehi Raajjeyge Gulhun PLC (Dhiraagu) and Dialog Axiata PLC (Dialog).

The MSC is supplied by Huawei Marine Networks, equipped with high-output titanium housing repeaters to achieve span length over 130km.

The MSC cable system is scheduled to be ready for service by year-end 2020 with the delivery period less than 11 months.

The Orient Express submarine cable is a 1,300km cable system directly connect the UAE and Pakistan, landing points in Karachi and Gwadar in Pakistan, and Kalba in the UAE. 

The Orient Express cable system is developped by Du Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (Du) and Islamabad-based internet service provider Wi-Tribe LDI Pakistan.

As the partnering telecom operator for the project along with Wi-Tribe Pakistan LDI, Du is UAE’s landing party for the Orient Express cable system and provides cable landing station and infrastructure for the connectivity of the Orient Express cable system.

Wi-Tribe LDI Pakistan, owned by HB International Investments Limited, is the owner of the project in Pakistan and possesses requisite licenses as per the regulations of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. In February 2019, Wi-Tribe Pakistan LDI (Pvt.) Limited rebranded as Orient Express LDI (Pvt.) Limited. 

Emergent Telecommunications LLC, owned by HB International Investments, is the project management company for the Orient Express cable system.

HB International Investments, owned by a Pakistani expat in the UK, brings Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of USD 100 Million to build the  Orient Express cable system.

Arc, a joint venture between UAE’s du and Bahrain’s Batelco, is selected by Emergent Telecommunications as the lead consultant for the Orient Express submarine cable system, to provide consultancy services related to network configuration, tendering, supply contract negotiation and documentation, and overall project management for the Orient Express cable.

The Orient Express cable system consists of four fiber pairs and 40 Tbps of total design capacity, enabling faster connectivity via internet with the rest of the world.

The Asia Direct Cable (ADC) is a 9400 km submarine cable connecting China (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province), Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ADC cable system will feature eight fiber pairs and is designed to carry more than 140 Tbps of traffic, enabling high capacity transmission of data across the East and Southeast Asian regions.

The ADC consortium comprises CAT, China Telecom, China Unicom, PLDT Inc., Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications and Viettel. The initial investment of the project is about US$290 million.

The ADC consortium has awarded the supply contract to NEC. ADC is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022.

The Singapore India Gateway (“SING”) submarine cable system is an ultra-high capacity connectivity between Singapore and India, with two landings in India at Mumbai and Chennai. The SING cable system will also have branches for connectivity to Indonesia, Thailand, and Oman.

Oman provides the perfect location for onward interconnectivity with many other existing and future systems being developed that connect at Oman, from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The SING cable system will enable a direct connect between this new Oman hub and the Singapore hub: datacenter to datacenter.

The Singapore India Gateway (SING) cable system has a target Ready for Service (RFS) date in Q2 2023 and by the time SING achieves RFS, over half of all the existing cable systems connecting India will be over 20 years old with two thirds of all cable landings controlled by just two incumbent operators.

The SING cable system will be an inaugural project initiated by Datawave Networks, headquartered in Cyprus, with offices in the India, Singapore, UK and the USA and operates with a growing team. 

In August 2021, Datawave Networks, trought its subsidiary and landing party in India, Datawave Networks Private Limited, acquired International Long Distance Telecommunications License（ILD License) from the Department of Telecommunications in India.

The TW1 cable system spans 1,300 km connecting Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Oman.

The TW1 cable system is privately owned and oeprated by Transworld Associates Private Limited (Transworld, or TWA), which is also the landing party in Pakistan for the SMW5 cable system.

Transworld is a joint venture of Orascom Investment Holding (now Global Telecom Holding S.A.E., based in Amsterdam, Netherlands), Orastar Limited and His Excellency Dr Omar Abdul Mone’m Yousuf Al Zawawi of Sultanate of Oman. 

The TW1 cable lands at:

• Karachi, Pakistan,
• Al Seeb, Oman, and
• Fujairah, UAE.

Transworld contracted with Omantel in July 2005 for a 15-year agreement that grants  Transworld the right to use Omatel’s Al Seeb Cable Landing Station as a land point for linking the present and future international cables in Oman.

Transworld signed a landing party agreement with the Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat) to land TW1 cable system at Fujairah Cable Landing Station.

The TW1 cable system comprises of two fibre pairs, with an initial design capacity of 1.28Tbps. There are 14 repeaters on the trunk of 1237km between Fujairah and Karachi, with a 60km branch to Al Seeb.

The TW1 cable system was supplied by TE SubCom and began operations in 2006.

In 2011, the TW1 cable system was upgraded with SubCom's solution to add six additional wavelengths, using plug and play technology.

In 2016, the TW1 cable system was upgraded with Huawei Marine's solution to add 3x100Gbps wavelengths in its original 10Gbps DWDM system.

TGN-Gulf is a 4031km submarine cable connnecting Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. TGN-Gulf connects to a branch unit of TGN-EA near Oman, forming connections onwards to Mumbai, India and Europe.

TGN-Gulf is a consortium cable led by Tata Communications. Bahrain Internet Exchange in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Nawras (now Ooredoo Oman) of Oman, Qatar Telecom (now Ooredoo) of Qatar, Mobily of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates are exclusive landing parties for the TGN Gulf cable system in corresponding countries. 

By landing the TGN-Gulf cable system in Oman, Nawras (now Ooredoo Oman) became the second operator to operate international submarine cable in Oman.

The TGN-Gulf cable system lands at:

• Qalhat, Oman
• Fujairah, United Arab Emirates
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Al-Kheesa, Qatar
• Amwaj Island, Bahrain
• Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia

The TGN-Gulf cable system was supplied by TE SubCom, ready for service on 22 march 2012.

Pishgaman Oman Iran (POI) Network is a 400km submarine cable connecting Iran and Oman.

The POI cable system is privately owned by Pishgaman Kavir Asia (PKA), partnered with Omantel as the landing party in Oman. 

Pishgaman Kavir Asia (PKA) as s subsidiary of Pishgaman Cooperative Group, is the leading provider of telecommunication service in Iran. POI is the only iranian submarine cable developed by private sector, planned to connect Iran and other Middle East states to different pats of the world, through Oman and international gateways.

The POI cable system lands at:

• Barka, Oman
• Chabahar, Iran
• Jask, Iran

The POI cable system was ready for service in June 2012.

The OMRAN cable system is a 600km submarine cable connecting Oman and Iran, in conjunction with the Europe-Persia Express Gateway (EPEG) cable system.

The OMRAN cable system lands at:

• Barka, Oman
• Diba, Oman
• Khasab, Oman
• Jask, Iran
• Chabahar, Iran

The segment between Barka (Oman) and Jask (Iran) is part of the EPEG cable system. 

The OMRAN cable system was ready for service in Q1 2013.

The Fiber Optic Gulf (FOG) is a 1300km submarine cable system connecting Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE), ready for service in June 1998.

The FOG consortium comprises Kuwait Ministry of Communications, Batelco, Ooredoo and Etisalat.

The FOG cable system lands at:

• Kuwait City, Kuwait
• Manama, Bahrain
• Doha, Qatar
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Qatar-UAE Submarine Cable System is a 400 submarine cable system connecting Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ready for service in December 2004.

The Qatar-UAE Submarine Cable System is jointly owned and operated by Ooredoo (Qatar) and Etisalat (UAE).

The Qatar-UAE Submarine Cable System lands at:

• Doha, Qatar
• Halul Island, Qatar
• Abu Dhabi, UAE
• Das Island, UAE

The segment between Doha and the Qatari island of Halul span approximately 100 km, the segment between Halul and Das Island in the UAE is about 100km. 

The Indonesia Global Gateway (IGG) is a 5,300 kilometers subsea cable system that connects the cities of Dumai, Batam, Jakarta, Madura, Bali, Makassar, Bilikpapan, Takaran and Manado with Tuas, Singapore.

The IGG cable system consists of 4 fiber pairs, designed with 100Gbps x 80 wavelengths DWDM technology, for a tatal system capacity of 32Tbps.

The IGG cable system is a hub bridging the two cable systems, the SEA-US with the SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5). The IGG cable system connects with the SMW5 cable system in Tuas, Singapore and onward to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. On the other end, the IGG cable system connects with the SEA-US cable system in Manado to reach the Philippines and the United States.

The IGG cable system is a privately owned by Telin, supplied by NEC.

Telin Singapore is the owner and landing party for IGG Singapore landing. Telin Singapore received the Temporary Occupation License (TOL) Singapore Land Authority (SLA) in April 2019 for the construction of Beach Manhole (BMH) and Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) in Tuas Area, Singapore. It is the first Telkom Group's own landing point in its international footprint. The IGG caable system connects seamlessly to Telin’s Telin-3 Data Centre, located at 8 Sunview Drive, within the Singapore Data Centre Park (DCP) in Jurong. 

Telin-3 Data Centre is a five-storey 20,000-square-metre purpose-built data center, adopting multi-tier design. This design feature provides flexibility and modularity to customers, enabling them to select from a variety of tier ratings based on their business requirements. Telin-3 Data Centre achieved Tier-IV design certification and Tier-III Constructed Facility certification from Uptime Institute’s (UTI).

The Sistem Kabel Rakyat 1 Malaysia (SKR1M) is a 3700km  optical fiber submarine cable system connecting Cherating, Kota Kinabalu, Miri, Bintulu, Kuching and Mersing, a domestic submarine cable system connecting Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, upgradable to 12.8 Tbps of capacity.

SKR1M was established through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) collaboration between Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) and the Malaysian Government through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). TT dotCom Sdn Bhd (TTdC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of TIME dotCom Berhad (TIME) also funded and owns a portion of this submarine cable.

SKR1M was built with the objective of enhancing the existing domestic submarine cable connectivity between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, thus catering for future bandwidth growth requirements.

NEC is the supplier of the SKR1M submarine cable system. 

The SKR1M submarine cable system was ready for service in September 2017.

Converge ICTSI Domestic Submarine Cable Network (CDSCN) is a domestic submarine cable network in the Philippines, spans 1,824 kilometer connecting 22 landing stations throughout the Philippines.

CDSCN consists of 48 fiber cores (24 fiber pairs), running on 400G and 800G technology, being an unrepeatered cable system.

CDSCN serves as a National Backbon Network of Converge ICT to interconnect major islands in the Philippines and serve high speed internet/broadband nationwide with highly efficient and effective services in reasonable and affordable price.

CDSCN is privately owned by Converge ICT Solutions Inc., a telecommunications company duly licensed to install, operate and maintain nationwide wired and wireless broadband network in the Philippines

The project is implemented by Metroworks ICT Construction Inc.  a subsidiary of Converge ICTSI. Metroworks ICT Construction Inc. is responsible for the Converge ICTSI’s Network Infrastructure build.

CDSCN is supplied by HMN Tech.

Converge completed the project on October 31, 2021.

Apricot subsea cable system is a 12,000-kilometer subsea cable connecting Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore.

The Apricot cable system will feature a state-of-the-art submersible reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer employing wavelength selective switch for a gridless and flexible bandwidth configuration, based on space division multiplexing design.

The Apricot consortium comprises Facebook, Google, NTT, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) and PLDT.

NTT is responsible for operating and managing three cable landing stations for the Apricot cable system: Minamiboso CLS in Japan, Tuas CLS in Singapore and a cable landing station in Indonesia.

PLDT will build new cable landing stations in Luzon and Mindanao as part of the Apricot cable system. 

Hokkaido-Akita cable system is a 770km fiber optic submarine cable connecting Hokkaido and Akita Prefecture, Japan.

Hokkaido-Akita cable system is jointly built by NTT Communications Corporation, KDDI Corporation, SoftBank Corp. and Rakuten Mobile, Inc. It is the first submarine cable project participated by Rakuten Mobile, aiming to respond to the increase in traffic expected to come with the increasing adoption of 5G and other high speed, high-capacity networks, as well as expand redundancy in the network for times of emergency.

In addition, the joint construction agreement will allow for cost-effective construction of this valuable infrastructure.

Hokkaido-Akita cable system will have a designed capacity of more than 160 Tbps.

Globe Telecom’s Fiber Optic Backbone Network comprises three parts, i.e. Globe's FOBN and FOBN-2 and Telecphil's National Digital Transmission Network (NDTN), connecting the entire Philippines with more than 12,000 kilometers of submarine and land cables. 

FOBN

In early 2002, Globe Telecom and Fujitsu signed an $80-million contract covering the supply of transmission systems and submarine fiber optic cable system for Globe’s Fiber Optic Backbone Network (FOBN1) project, including the installation of land fiber optic cable, new buildings for equipment, DC power plant, generator sets, and other support facilities needed for the project, on a turnkey basis. This FOBN project connects Globe Telecom’s existing telecom network in Makati, stretching to Nasugbu in Batangas, connecting Mindoro, the islands of Panay and Negros, Cebu province, and Iligan City in Mindanao, with a total cable length length of 1,600 kilometers (combination of submarine and land cables).

FOBN2

In November 2009, Globe Telecom completed the FOBN2, which spanning over 1,900 kilometers of inland and submarine cable, covering most areas of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The FOBN2 project cost was around $70 million. FOBN2 serves as protection route for FOBN1.

In Septermber 2013,  Globe Telecom completed rollout of a 400km submarine fibre optic backbone connecting Palawan with the main island of Luzon, strengthening Palawan’s connectivity with the entire country and the rest of the world.

NDTN

National Digital Transmission Network (NDTN) was first launched in 1999 and built at an original cost of $70 million.

NDTN was owned the Telecoms Infrastructure Corp. of the Phils. (Telecphil), a seven-member joint venture consortium composed of BayanTel (57% as majority owner), Digitel, Eastern Telecoms (ETPI), Extelcom, Globe, Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and Smart. Telecphil was the second largest backbone network operator in the Philippines, following PLDT.

Globe Telecom acquired BayanTel in 2013 and 50% of ETPI in 2016, being the majority owner of Telecphil and its National Digital Transmission Network (NDTN). The NDTN backbone has a total length of 2,741 km.

PLDT's Domestic Fiber-Optic Network (DFON) is a nationwide fiber optic backbone network in the Philippines, comprised of nodes connected by terrestrial and submarine cable links configured with ten self-healing loops and two appendages extending to Palawan and Zamboanga.

Varuna Cable System (VCS) is a 3,400 km submarine fiber optic cable connecting Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Labuan Bajo, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Bawean, Madura island and return back to Java island to form a loop network in Indonesia. 

Varuna Cable System (VCS) is developed by PT Varuna Cahaya Santosa, a joint venture of PT NAP Info Lintas Nusa (Matrix NAP Info) and PT Communication Cable Systems Indonesia Tbk. (CCSI). Matrix NAP Info plays a role in supporting expertise in the operation and construction of the submarine cables. While CCSI is responsible as a procurement and deployment contractor (Engineering Procurement Construction), and operation and maintenance.

Matrix is a prominent telecommunication company based in Jakarta, Indonesia, founded in 2000. Matrix owns and operates Matrix Cable System (MCS) connecting Singapore and Indonesia

CCSI and Matrix NAP Info have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui) which is interested to take part in equity participation in VCS.

Varuna Cable System (VCS) consists of 48 fiber cores (24 fiber pairs) repeaterless submarine cable, made by CCSI.

The South-East Asia Hainan-Hongkong Express Cable System (SEA-H2X) is a submarine cable connecting Hong Kong SAR China, Hainan China, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia (Borneo Island) and Singapore, with options to extend to Vietnam, Cambodia, the Malaysia Peninsula and Indonesia.

The SEA-H2X consortium comprises China Mobile International Limited (CMI), China Unicom Global (CUG) , Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc. (Converge) and PPTEL SEA H2X Sdn. Bhd (PPTEL SEA-H2X). The SEA-H2X Consortium selects HMN Technologies Co., Limited (HMN Tech) to build the system.

Construction and Maintenance Agreement (&MA) and Supply Contract for the SEA-H2X project were effective on March 4, 2022, and come into force as of May 12, 2022.

The SEA-H2X cable system consists of at least 8-fiber pairs between Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, with a design capacity of 160 Tbps to meet the growing bandwidth requirement in the region. Employing an open system model, SEA-H2X has the flexibility to choose best-in-breed Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE) from third-party vendors at a later date. HMN Tech’s advanced Branching Unit (BU) and Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) benefits SEA-H2X in providing the ultimate flexibility of electrical power and optical fiber switches across multiple locations.

The SEA-H2X cable system is targeted to be ready-for-service in 2024.

The SEA-H2X will offer diverse connections to the Hainan Free Trade Port, in additional to the Hainan to Hong Kong Express (H2HE) submarine cable system.

The Batam Sarawak Internet Cable System (BaSICS) is a submarie cable connecting Sarawak (Malaysia) and Batam (Indonesia), spanning about 700km.

The BaSICS cable system consists of 6 fiber pairs, designed with 80x100Gbps per fiber pair, i.e. 8Tbps per fiber pairs, for a total system capacity of 48Tbps.

The BaSICS cable system is privately developed by PP Telecommunication Sdn. Bhd. (PPTel), a Sarawak-based company, with XL Xiata as its landing partner in Batam, and supplied by FiberHome as its first repeatered international subsea cable project.

The BaSICS cable system lands at PPTEL DC @Santubong 1 in Kuching, Sarawak. PPTEL DC @Santubong 1 is certified with Tier-IV Design Certification by Uptime Institute.

The BaSICS cable system has been ready for service as of June 1, 20022. It forms the shortest latency route from Sarawak to Singapore, less than 9ms between PPTEL DC @Santubong 1 and Equinix Singapore SG3.

PPTel also host the Sarawak International Internet Gateway (SIIG) at the PPTEL DC @Santubong 1.

On August 2, 2022, PPTEL announced its new corporate brand identity, "irix", to align with the transformation that is being undertaken across the organization.

On September 6, 2022, irix officially launched the Batam-Sarawak Internet Cable System (BaSICS) and Tier IV Data Centre, the irix DC @ Santubong 1 (irix DC).

The Saudi Vision Cable is a 1,160km submarine cable connecting Jeddah, Yanbu, Dibba and Haql, the major subsea hubs in Red Sea cities of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Vision Cable is privately owned by stc, supplied by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN).

The Saudi Vision Cable consists of 16 fiber pairs, designed with 18Tbps per fiber pair.

The named Saudi Vision Cable is inspired by the “Saudi 2030 vision” as a game changer for the subsea cables in the region. This state-of-the-art submarine cable system will enable a unique and low latency route, linking the major subsea hubs in Red sea cities of Saudi Arabia.

The cable will help in improving the cost efficiency and flexibility of the unified efficient fiber optic platform and provide access to all international cables in the landing stations and information centers of stc Group.

The Asia Link Cable (ALC) is approximately 6,000-kilometer in length, connecting Hong Kong SAR China and Singapore as its trunk, with branches into the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam and Hainan, China.

The ALC cable system will have a minimum eight fiber pairs, with 18 Tbps/Fiber Pair minimum trunk design capacity, adding more capacity and diversity to existing networks in the region.

The ALC project is expected to cost US$300million (SG$420.8million)

The ALC consortium comprises China Telecom Global Limited (CTG), Globe Telecom, Inc. (Globe), DITO Telecommunity Corporation (DITO), Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel), Unified National Networks Sdn Bhd (UNN), and FPT Telecom (Vietnam).

HMN Technologies Co., Limited (HMN Tech) was awarded as the system supplier and is expected to complete the construction of ALC by the third quarter of 2025.

Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network (PDSCN) is the longest undersea fiber cable network in the Philippines, spanning 2500km.

PDSCN is jointly owned by Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (ETPI or Eastern Communications), Globe Telecom Inc. (Globe) and InfiniVAN, Inc.. ETPI is , jointly owned by PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc., while InfiniVAN is a subsidiary of Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed IPS, Inc. TSE: 4390).

The vendors of the PDSCN project includes  Nexans, Kokusai Cable Ship Co., Ltd, Fleet Marine Cable Solutions, Inc., SJA Business Consultancy and Liaison Services, and Kyotosh. 

The total cost of the PDSCN project is approximately US$150 million.

The PDSCN project is expected to be operational before the end of Q2 2023.

The Bridge One is a new subsea cable connecting Pohang, South Korea to Fukuoka, Japan.

The Bridge One cable system is planned by DCT cable, a South Korea company. The system is expected to be ready for service in 2025, with 24 fiber pairs.