Cable Landing Station is one important component of a submarine cable system which comprises of Wet Plant and Dry Plant.

The Dry Plant of a submarine cable system is a segment between the beach manhole and the cable landing station, comprises of land cable, power feeding equipment (PFE) and submarine line terminal equipment(SLTE), etc. The Wet Plant of a submarine cable system lies between the beach manholes, consists of submarine cable, repeater/gain equalizer, branching unit. A typical schematic of a submarine cable system is shown below.

Typical Schematic for a Submarine Cable System

The PFE and the SLTE of a submarine cable system are installed at the cable landing station. In some cases, the PFE is installed at a cable landing station nearby the cable landing site, while the SLTE may be installed in another cable landing station much faraway. For example, the terminal station at Hillsboro for the SLTE of the TPE cable system is about 150 mile away from the cable landing site at Nedonna Beach.

Multiple submarine cable systems may share the same cable landing stations. The submarine cable system is connected with the terrestrial network at the cable landing station, through the so called backhaul system.

The cable landing site is usually carefully chosen to be in areas:

  • that have little marine traffic to minimise the risk of cables being damaged by ship anchors and trawler operations;
  • with gently sloping, sandy or silty sea-floors so that the cable can be buried to minimise the chance of damage;
  • without strong currents that would uncover buried cables and potentially move cables.

Multiple types of submarine cables may be used in a submarine cable system, subject to depth of the seabed where the cable lies.

Various Types of Submarine Cables

The double armored submarine cable is used at the shore-end, terminated at the beach manhole at the cable landing site, and is interconnected with much lighter land cable going onward to the cable landing station.

Structure of Land Cable

Structure of Single Armored Submarine Cable

In most of the jurisdictions worldwide, the cable landing license is required to land a submarine cable.

Submarine Cables in Africa

 

Africa is irrefutably one of the most important growth markets globally embracing digital transformation enabled by resurgent economic progress,

Among the 54 African countries recognized by United Nations, there are 38 countries that have seashore and 16 that are land locked. Out of these 38 countries that have seashore, 37 countries have at least one submarine cable landing. The lone exception is Eritrea, considering Western Sahara is considered disputed territory.

By the end of 2019, among the 37 countries that have at least one subsea cable landing, 11 countries have only 1 subsea cable, 10 countries have 2 subsea cables, 6 have 3 subsea cables, and 10 have more than 3.

The map below depicts a full and colorful picture about African Undersea Cables.

African Undersea CablesAfrican Undersea Cables, by Steve Song, Many Possibilities

 

 There are also excellent insights and summary on submarine cables business in Africa in the following articles:

African subsea cables
Submarine cables in Africa, by Suvesh ChattopadhyayaSubmarine Cables for Africa – A close look at 2019-21

 

Djibouti is a significant location for submarine cables running through the Asia, Africa and Europe corridor or connecting the East Africa.

Since the merger the Telecommunications Department of the Office of Posts and Telecommunications (OPT) and the International Telecommunication Company of Djibouti (STID) in 1999, Djibouti Telecom has become the incumbent and monopoly of national and international telecommunications throughout Djibouti. Djibouti Telecom is today a leading strategic center for international telecommunication services in East Africa with its underlying network infrastructure including international submarine cables and terrestrial cables (between Djibouti-Somali, and Djibouti-Ethiopia).

Djibouti Telecom has built two cable landing stations, the YAC A Cable Landing Station (YAC A CLS) and the Haramous Cable Landing Station (Haramous CLS).  There are now eight submairne cables and two terrestrial cables connecting Djibouti to the world.

Djibouti Telecom is building a new cable landing station in Djibouti City, the RAS DIKA CLS. PEACE, 2Africa, Africa-1, SMW6, IEX. Blue-Raman will be hosted at the RAS DIKA CLS.

Subsea cables landing at the YAC A CLS:

  • AAE1
  • ADEN-DJIBOUTI
  • SEACOM
  • SMW3
  • DARE1 

Subsea cables landing at the Haramous CLS:

  • EIG
  • EASSy
  • SMW5
  • DJIBOUTI-ETHIOPIA (terrestrial cable)
  • DJIBOUTI-SOMALIA (terrestrial cable)

Djibouti Data Center (DDC) also represents a key telecom infrastructure in Djibouti.

Launched commercial operations in 2013, the DDC is a carrier neutral data center in Djibouti. The DDC building is adjacent to the Haramous CLS, and connected by diverse dark fiber paths to the Haramous CLS and the YAC A CLS,  connecting all transoceanic and regional cable systems landing in Djibouti. Backhaul to any subsea cable head can be ordered directly from the DDC, although it is provided by Djibouti Telecom. 

 

Djibouti Cable Landing Stations

There are now 6 submarine cables landing in Kenya, including: 

Telkom Kenya owns a 23% stake in TEAMS, a 10% stake in LION2 and 2.6% stake in EASSy. 

The geographic position of Egypt allows for an efficient crossing from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea for submarine cable systems.

Telecom Egypt (TE) is Egypt’s only fixed network operator, owns and operates the TE Transit Corridor (or Trans-Egypt) infrastructure, which comprises the terrestrial infrastructure linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, over multiple diverse and redundant routes. Additional terrestrial routes over the Sinai Peninsula add to the unique resilience of the TE Transit Corridor and favourable submarine cable build economics by avoiding shallow waters.

Telecom Egypt is pursuing its plans to boost its international infrastructure by building new landing stations on the Mediterranean and Red seas that will be connected via new diverse terrestrial and subsea crossing routes. This has grabbed the attention of more and more global and international telecommunication players. Today, Telecom Egypt owns and operates 10 diversified terrestrial Trans-Egypt crossing routes which connect all landing stations on the Red and Mediterranean Seas. Telecom Egypt carefully selected the locations of the new landing station facilities, and accordingly built them with especially tailored specifications, and with further expansion plans in mind.There are now 10 submarine cable landing stations in Egypt, 5 on the coast of Mediterranean Sea and 5 on the coast of the Red Sea.

As of June 2022, there are now 15 in-service submarine cables connecting Egpyt (some with multiple subsystems), and another 5 cables under construction which include 2Africa/HARP/EMIC-1, Africa-1, IEX, Medusa and SMW6. And there are also Trans Border Terrestrial Cables to Libya, Sudan and Jordan.

 

Sidi Kerir CLS Abu Talat 1 CLS Abu Talat 2 CLS Alexandria CLS Port Said CLS
IEX (2023) AAE-1 MENA/GBI Aletar/Berytar FLAG Europe-Asia (FEA)
  EIG PEACE FLAG Europe-Asia (FEA) 2Africa / EMIC-1 (2023)
  SEA-ME-WE 5   Hawk Africa-1 (2023)
  TE North
/SEACOM/TGN-EA
/ALEXANDROS/Medex
  IMEWE HARP (2023)
      SEA-ME-WE 3 IEX (2023)
      SEA-ME-WE 4 SEA-ME-WE 6 (2025)
      IEX (2023) Medusa (2025)

 

Trans-Egypt Routes and Cable Landing Stations
Trans-Egypt Routes and Cable Landing Stations, Source: Telecom Egypt Interactive Map

 

Ras Ghareb CLS Zafarana 2 CLS Zafarana 1 CLS Suez CLS Hod elDars CLS
2Africa/EMIC-1(2023) MENA/GBI AAE-1 FALCON IMEWE
Africa-1 (2023) PEACE EIG FLAG Europe-Asia (FEA)  
HARP (2023) IEX (2023)  SEACOM SEA-ME-WE 3  
SEA-ME-WE 6 (2025)   TGN-EA SEA-ME-WE 4  
     SEA-ME-WE 5 2Africa(2023)  
     2Africa(2023)    

 

The Port Said CLS and the Ras Ghareb CLS are new cable landing stations which Telecom Egypt builds for 2Africa cable system and other new cables, to provide brand-new terrestrial crossing routes linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the first in over a decade. Notablely, 2Africa will land at four Cable Landing Stations in Egypt that were selected precisely to assure physical and geographical diversity. On the Mediterranean side, 2Africa will be landing at the Port Said CLS, which is located 250 km east of the Alexandria CLS. On the Red Sea side, in addition to land at the new Ras Ghareb CLS which is located 100 km south of the Zafarana CLS, 2Africa will land at the Zafarana CLS and Suez CLS as well. The Ras Ghareb CLS and the Port Said CLS are connected with two new and diverse terrestrial routes with the deployment of next generation fibre, the routes will be in vicinity with the Suez Canal from Suez to Port Said, and will be complemented with a third new marine path linking Ras Ghareb and Suez landing stations.  

In March 2021, Telecom Egypt and Suez Canal Authority, in coordination with the Armed Forces Signal Corps, signed an agreement to create the new Egypt crossing terrestrial cable route for fiber optic internet cables between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean through Al Morshedeen Road.

In September 2023, Telecom Egypt launched WeConnect ecosystem, providing agile access to Egypt’s extensive subsea cable infrastructure. WeConnect enables users to mix and match connectivity between subsea cable systems in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea using an open and neutral model. WeConnect’s digital platform enables users to click-to-order cross-connectivity between the 14 subsea cable systems landing in Egypt’s 10 cable stations, linked via the 10 terrestrial routes spanning the country. WeConnect users will easily manage their commercial agreements through the online platform to enjoy accelerated access to the growing number of subsea cable systems with greater agility, adaptability, diversity, and resiliency. 

Fore more information, please refer to the Study Report on Submarine Cables Crossing Egypt and their Costs.

There are now 8 international subsea cables landing in South Africa, including WACS, SAT-3/WASC, SAFE, SEACOM, EASSy, METISS, Equiano and 2Africa.

Goolge's Equiano cable lands at Melkbosstrand CLS in a partnership with Telkom as the landing partner.

2Africa cable lands at four cable landing stations in South Africa, Yzerfontein CLS for 2Africa West, Duynefontein CLS, Port Elizabeth CLS and Amanzimtoni CLS for 2Africa East.

Cable landing stations on the East Coast of South Africa:

  • Mtunzini CLS (Telkom) for SAFE (2002) and EASSy (2010).
  • Mtunzini CLS (Liquid Telecom) for SEACOM (2009).
  • Amanzimtoni CLS (Liquid Telecom) for METISS (2019) 
  • Amanzimtoni CLS (WIOCC) for 2Africa (East, 2023)
  • Port Elizabeth CLS (Telkom) for 2Africa (East, 2023). Vodacom is the landing party for the 2Africa Port Elizabeth Landing.

Cable landing station on the West Coast of South Africa:

  • Melkbosstrand CLS (Telkom) for SAT-3/WASC (2002) and SAFE (2002), Equiano (2023)
  • Yzerfontein CLS (Telkom) for WACS (2011) and 2Africa (West, 2023).  MTN GlobalConnect is the landing party for the 2Africa Yzerfontein Landing. 
  • Duynefontein CLS (MTN) for ACE and 2Africa (East, 2023)

 

In Nigeria, there are now five international submarine cables, with over 40 Tbps of capacity, including SAT3 cable, MainOne cable, Glo1 cable, ACE cable and WACS cable, landed by Natcom, MainOne, Glo 1, Dolphin Telecom and MTN respectively. 

There is also a submarine cable connecting Kribi in Cameroon to Lagos in Nigeria, the Nigeria-Cameroon Submarine Cable System (NCSCS). The NCSCS is owned by Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL), in a partnership with MainOne to land the NCSCS cable at MainOne's Lagos Cable Landing Station.

Google's private cable Equiano will land in Nigeria. 

According to ASCON, Nigeria has used less than 10% of its five submarine cables capacity as of early 2019.

 

Association of Submarine Cable Operators of Nigeria (ASCON)

The Association of Submarine Cable Operators of Nigeria (ASCON) was inaugurated on 10th December 2018, aiming to create a national advocacy forum for Nigerian companies and administrations that own and/or operate submarine telecommunications cables landing in the country.

The Principal objective of the ASCON is to:

  • Create a national advocacy forum for Nigerian companies and administrations that own and/or operate submarine telecommunications cables landing in the country.
  • ASCON has been established to promote, encourage and assist in the protection of subsea cable infrastructure and ancillary equipment and facilities from marine activities, man-made and natural hazards.
  • The association shall support and manage governmental and public/private sector collaboration, to ensure that the operations and maintenance of critical subsea communications assets are adequately protected and recognized in the development of rules and policies in Nigeria

Members, Board of Trustees of ASCON include

  1. Funke Opeke (MD/CEO, MainOne;
  2. Uche Osuji (MTN Nigeria, GM, Network Performance & Quality Assurance) and
  3. Abdelraham Bashar (Deputy MD, ACE/Dolphine)
  4. Innocent Nwokwocha – (nTel)

The Executive Council of ASCON is made up of:     

  • Ifeloju Alakija- President (MainOne)
  • Maxwell Eze – Vice President (MTN)
  • Bolaji Mudashiru – General Secretary (ACE/Dolphin Telecom)
  • Prosper Iredia Ogbagha – Publicity Secretary (Natcom SAT-3)

There are now the following submarine cables landing in Mainland China:

Cables to the US:

  • China-US CN (retired)
  • TPE
  • NCP

Cables connecting Asia:

  • APCN-2
  • APG
  • EAC-C2C
  • SJC
  • SJC2 (2021)
  • TSE-1
  • Xiamen-Jinmen
  • Hainan to Hong Kong Express (H2HE)

Cables to Africa and Europe:

  • FLAG Europe-Asia
  • SMW3

The cables land at 9 submarine cable landing stations in China.

China Telecom owns three cable landing stations, including

China Unicom owns four cable landing stations, including:

China Mobile owns two cable landing stations:

  • Lingang Cable Landing Station for NCP and SJC2;
  • Wenchang Cable Landing Station for Hainan to Hong Kong Express (H2HE)

For provision of cable-based external fixed service, an interested party is required to obtain a UCL (External) from the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) of Hong Kong SAR. Apart from leasing capacity on existing submarine cables for provision of service, a holder of UCL (External) may also choose to land their own cables in Hong Kong, either by using an existing CLS or building a new CLS.

As of January 2022, there are 12 submarine cable systems connecting Hong Kong, namely, Asia Africa Europe-1 ("AAE-1"), Asia-America Gateway Cable System ("AAG"), Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 ("APCN-2"), Asia Pacific Gateway (“APG”), Asia Submarine-Cable Express ("ASE"), EAC-C2C, FLAG Europe Asia ("FEA"), FLAG North Asia Loop ("FNAL") / REACH North Asia Loop ("RNAL"), Hainan to Hong Kong Express (H2HE), Sea-Me-We 3 ("SMW3"), South-East Asia Japan Cable System ("SJC") and TGN-Intra Asia Cable System ("TGN-IA"). Several other systems are under construction or planning.

Cables with Intra-Asia connectivity:

  • Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 ("APCN-2"),
  • FLAG North Asia Loop ("FNAL") / REACH North Asia Loop ("RNAL"),
  • EAC-C2C,
  • TGN-Intra Asia Cable System ("TGN-IA") 
  • Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE, 2013), 
  • South-East Asia Japan Cable System (SJC, 2013)
  • Asia Pacific Gateway (APG,2016)
  • Hainan to Hong Kong Express (H2HE, 2021)
  • Asia Direct Cable (ADC, 2023)
  • Southeast Asia–Japan 2 (SJC2, 2024)
  • South-East Asia Hainan-Hongkong Express Cable System (SEA-H2X, 2024)
  • Asia Link Cable (ALC, 2025) 

Cables connecting Europe, Africa and EMEA regions:

  • FLAG Europe Asia ("FEA"),
  • Sea-Me-We 3 ("SMW3"),
  • Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1,2017),

Cables connecting the United States:

  • Asia-America Gateway (AAG, 2009),
  • Pacific Light Cable Network(PLCN, withdrawn application for license in the US),
  • Hong Kong - America(HKA, withdrawn application for license in the US), 
  • Hong Kong - Guam (HK-G, withdrawn application for license in the US), 
  • Bay to Bay Express (BtoBE, withdrawn application for license in the US).

Cables connecting Australia:

There are 10 submarine cable landing stations (CLS) in Hong Kong, including three cable landing stations Tseung Kwan O, three at Chung Hom Kok, two at Tong Fuk, and one at each of Deep Water Bay and Cape D'Aguilar.

Cable Landing Stations in Hong Kong

Cable Landing Stations in Hong Kong

Due to the geography of Hong Kong, the submarine cables are landed in Hong Kong from international waters via the southeast direction. This has restricted the choice of landing sites for submarine cables even though Hong Kong has a long coastline. Currently, there are three major areas for landing of submarine cables with cable landing stations at: (1) Tong Fuk in the southern part of Lantau Island; (2) Deep Water BayCape D’Aguilar and Chung Hom Kok in the southern part of the Hong Kong Island; and (3) Tseung Kwan O in the eastern part of the New Territories.

As most of the old generation submarine cables are landed at Tong Fuk and Deep Water Bay, there are advantages in having additional cables landed in new pieces of land elsewhere.

TKO (Tseung Kwan O) takes the advantages of accommodating many leading data centers in Hong Kong, such as HKEx, Global Switch, MEGA Plus, Hong Kong Financial Data Center, data centers and cable landing stations owned and operated by China Mobile International, China Unicom Global, NTT, Telstra, etc. But the narrow undersea corridor makes it hard to land more cables into TKO.

Chung Hom Kok is attractive for new cables and new cable landing stations, taking advantages of its wider undersea corridor and location in the Hong Kong Island. SUNeVision Holdings Ltd. (SUNeVision), the number one data center provider and connectivity hub in Hong Kong, has built two carrier-neutral cable landing stations at Chung Hom Kom since 2020, in the immediate vicinity of the existing GB21 Chung Hom Kok CLS.

 

Japan is the Hub for telecommunications in APAC region. there are more than 20 international submarine cable landing stations in Japan, with cables connecting the United Station, Australia, Russia, Pan-Asia, Europe and Africa, including:

  • 8 transpacific cables connecting the West Coast of the US: Japan-US CN, PC-1, TGN-Pacific, TPE, Unity, FASTER, NCP, Jupiter. Additionally, AJCJGA and Apricot cable systems connect Japan to Guam, the territory of the US.
  • 2 cables connecting Australia: AJC, JGA
  • 2 cable connecting Russia: RJCN, HSCS
  • 10 intra-asia cable: APCN-2, EAC-C2C, APG, ASE, FNAL/RNAL, SJC, TGN-IA, SJC2 (2022), ADC (2022) and Apricot (2024). Additionally, TPE, NCP, FASTER, Jupiter, SMW3 and FLAG FEA also offer intra-asia connectivity.
  • 2 cable reaching Europe and Africa: SMW3, FLAG FEA

 

Cable Landing Stations in Japan
Cable Landing Stations in Japan

 

Cable Landing Stations and Data Centers in Tokyo Bay Area
Cable Landing Stations and Data Centers in Tokyo Bay Area

 

South Korea is home to the fastest internet in the world, and also leads in the world to launch the world’s first commercial 5G mobile network in April 2019.

KT, SK, LG U+ and Sejong are the major telecom operators in South Korea.

KT is the leader in broadband internet and international submarine cable business in South Korea, has been invested in TPE, NCP, SMW3, APG, APCN-2, etc. 

LG U Plus partners with Telstra to operate a joint venture Dacom Crossing in South Korea. LG U Plus and Telstra hold 51% and 49% shares in Dacom Crossing respectively. Dacom Crossing is landing party for EAC cable (a part of the EAC-C2C network) and FNAL/RNAL cable.

SK Broadband has invested in SJC2 cable systme and is the landing party in Busan, with half fiber pair ownership (or 9Tbps). SK Broadband will terminate its SJC2 capacity directly to carrier neutral data center in Seoul, the Seoul #3 Data Center.

Sejong Telecom partners with Telstra on C2C cable (a part of the EAC-C2C network), owns C2C cable landing station in Busan. Sejong is also a leading carrier neutral data center provider in South Korea.

Busan is the hub and gateway for subsea cable landing connecting Asia, Europe and the US.

KT, SK Broadband and Sejong have cable landing stations in Busan. APCN-2, APG, FNAL/RNAL, FLAG FEA, SJC2, ADC, NCP, R-J-K (retired) and TPE land in Busan.

Besides Busan, there are also cable landing stations in Keoje, Taean.

Singapore is a hub in the submarine networks for connections from East Asia to South Asia,  Persian Gulf,  Mediterranean,  and Europe regions, and vice versa. Many submarine cable have been developed and are developing into Singapore.

The Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) is the lead agency for facilitating the deployment of submarine cable systems into Singapore. The IMDA provides guidance to interested parties and facilitates the process for applying for the necessary permits from various authorities. a Facilities-Based Operations (FBO) licence is required to deploy the submarine cable system into Singapore.

According to the 2016 edition of the Guidelines on Deployment of Submarine Cables into Singpaore issued by IMDA, as of September 2016, Singapore is connected to 17 active submarine cable systems, with a potential bandwidth capacity of more than 410 Tbps. These 17 submarine cable systems are landed in three designated landing sites in Singapore, namely the Changi North landing site, the Tanah Merah landing site, and the Tuas landing site. All new submarine cable systems can only be deployed to designated landing sites and each landing site is available on a first-come-first-served basis. 

There are now seven cable landing stations in Singapore, including:

 

Submarine Cable Landing Sites in Singapore
Submarine Cable Landing Sites in Singapore,  Source: IMDA

 

Here is a complete list of submarine cables connecting Singapore:

Cables northeastwards to Asia

Cables westwards to South and West Asia

Cables westwards to Europe and Africa (as well as South and West Asia)

  • AAE-1(2017). The AAE-1 doesn't land in Singapore, instead in Malaysia. With terrestrial extension between Malaysia and Singapore as a part of the AAE-1 cable system, AAE-1 Singapore PoPs are located at Equinix and Global Switch data centers in Singapore 
  • SMW3
  • SMW4
  • SMW5 (2016)
  • SMW6 (2023)

Cables eastwards to Australia

Cables connecting the United States

  • AAG
  • Echo (2023)
  • Bifrost (2024)
  • Hawaiki Nui (2025)
  • SEA-US (2018). The SEA-US terminates in Mando, Indonesia, without a landing point in Singpaore. Telin extends the SEA-US to its Telin-3 data center in Singapore through its private IGG cable system, forming an important route connecting Singapore and the US.

 

Updated: April 2021.

There are now 15 submarine cables landing in 7 cable landing stations in Taiwan:

 

Cable Landing Stations in Taiwan

 

Global internet giants and operators have heavy investments in Taiwan. 

Google has two hyperscale data centers in Taiwan, one in Changhua County which costs US$780 million and was completed in 2013, the other in Tainan Technology Industrial Park which will cost US$850 million, with a power supply of 10MW. So, Google builds two subsea cable connecting Taiwan and the US, FASTER and PLCN. Google also acquies huge capacity on other subsea cables connectign Taiwan.

Facebook has significant investment on subsea cables connecting Taiwan, including APGSJC2 and HKA. Especially, Facebook owns 4 out of the six fiber pairs on HKA Toucheng/Taiwan Branch. 

Besides local operators including Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone Telecom (NCIC), etc., Telstra represents a key player on submarine cable business in Taiwan, its EAC-C2C network landing in 4 cable landing stations in Taiwan, and being HKA landing party in Taiwan.

Geographically, the east and south coast of Taiwan island is of significant importance for the submarine networks, and is also a high-risk region for the submarine networks due to the characteristics of the geology of Taiwan.

The east and south of Taiwan are a complex system of belts formed by, and part of the zone of, active collision between the North Luzon Through portion of the Luzon Volcanic Arc and South China, where accreted portions of the Luzon Arc and Luzon forearc form the eastern Coastal Range and parallel inland Longitudinal Valley of Taiwan respectively. This region is encountered frequent seismic faults which may caused serious harmful impact to the submarine networks. For example, the magnitude 7.0 Hengchun Earthquake in December 2006 resulted in 18 cable cuts in 8 submarine cable systems, atastrophically disrupted Internet services in Asia and Pan-Pacific regions.

Philippine telecom sector is now 100% open to foreign ownership. On March 21, 2022, the Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte signed the law Republic Act No. 11659 amending the 85-year-old Public Service Act (PSA), allowing foreigners to fully own companies in the telecommunication, shipping, airline, railway, toll road, and transport network vehicle industries. Previously, these industries had a 40% cap on foreign equity, as they were considered public utilities.

The Philippines is becoming a rising hub for Trans-Pacific and Intra-Asia submarine cable networks, with open policies and regulations, improved makekt competition, various international connectivity and bombing data centers.

Prior to the duopolistic period by PLDT and Globe in 2010s, there were multiple submarine cable operators in the Philippines. Digitel participated in the EAC cable system and operated its cable landing station in Cavite, through its join venture Digitel Crossing. Bayantel and Eastern Communications (ETPI) were members of AAG. Digitel was acquired by PLDT in 2011, Bayantel was acquired by Globe Telecom in 2013,while Eastern Communications (ETPI) was acquired jointly by PLDT and Globe Telecom (each holding 50% stakes in ETPI) in 2016.

The creation and establishment of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in June 2016 marked a new effort for the Philippines to reform policies and regulations, promote competition and develop ICT industry.  

In 2017,  the DICT and the state-owned firm Bases Conversion and Development and Development Authority (BCDA) collaborated with Facebook to land PLCN in the Phillippines under the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure (LBI) project which is a government initiative for the National Broadband Plan (NBP) , the first of its kind for the Philippine government to implement by building and operating its own submarine cable landing stations. The BCDA builds the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure (LBI) made up of two cable landing stations and a 250 km long cable network corridor connecting the two cable landing stations.  

In 2019, after a public bidding overseen by the DICT, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and an oversight committee, Dito Telecommunity (formerly known as Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. or Mislatel) was granted the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN License), became the third major telecommunications provider in the Philippines. Dito Telecommunity is a joint venture of Davao businessman Dennis Uy's Udenna Corporation (through its subsidiary Dito Holdings Corporation) and China Telecom (40%).  Dito became a member of the Asia Link Cable (ALC) consortium in 2022.

In 2021, Converge ICT Solutions Inc.(Converge) announced the investment of more than US$100million to participate in the Bifrost cable system. Converge has built a domestic submarine cable network in the Philippines, Converge ICTSI Domestic Submarine Cable Network (CDSCN), connecting 22 landing stations throughout the Philippines. Converge acquired majority ownership in Digitel Crossing in 2021 and restructured Digetel Crossing to form a joint venture between Converge and Telstra, Telstra Converge Inc. Converge participted in SEA-H2X project in 2022

The Philippine market seems to be of more openness and competitiveness, which are foundamental features for an international telecom hub.

There are now 11 in-service international submarine cable systems connecting the Philippines, and another 6 transpacific and intra-Asia subsea cables under construction, including ADC, Apricot, Bifrost, CAP-1, SEA-H2X, ALC.  

By 2025, there will be 8 trans-pacific subsea cables connecting the Philippines to the US, including Guam-PhilippinesAAGSEA-USJupiterPLCN, CAP-1Bifrost, and TPU, building the position of the Philippines as an international telecommunications hub in the APAC region.

PLDT's cable landing stations include:

Globe's cable landing stations include:

BCDA's cable landing stations include:

Converge's cable landing stations include:

In addition to international submarine cables, there are several domestic fiber cable backbone networks, including PLDT's Domestic Fiber-Optic Network (DFON), Globe's Fiber Optic Backbone Network (FOBN), Converge's Domestic Submarine Cable Network (CDSCN), NGCP/TransCo Backbone Network and PDSCN jointly owned by Eastern Communications (ETPI), Globe and InfiniVAN.

 

Along with the rising position for trans-pacific subsea cables, data centers in the Philippines are growing. 

PLDT, through its subsidiary PLDT Enterprises (ePLDT), is the major operator for data centers in the Philippines, currently operating 10 VITRO data center facilities:

  • VITRO Data Center Cebu 1 (200 racks)
  • VITRO Data Center Cebu 2 (800 racks)
  • VITRO Data Center Pasig (1800 racks)
  • VITRO Data Center Pranaque (800 racks)
  • VITRO Data Center Clark (1515 racks)
  • VITRO Data Center Makati 
  • VITRO Data Center Makati 2 (3584 racks)
  • VITRO Data Center Davao

Several hyperscale data centers are developed in the greater Manila area, including PLDT VITRO Data Center #11 in Sta. Rosa with up to 100MW power supply. Space DC's 72MW hyperscale data center in Cainta, and Digital Edge's 10MW data center in Laguna.

(Updated: June 2023)

Cable Landing Stations in the Philippines
Cable Landing Stations in the Philippines

There are three cable landing sites in Vietnam, and six in-service submarine cable systems connecting Vietnam, two new cables including SJC2  and ADC are under construction.

VNPT and Viettel are the dominant international submarine cable operators in Vietnam. Viettel has invested in AAG, TGN-IA, APG,AAE-1 and ADC, and hosts the cable landing station in Vietnam for AAE-1 with its US$50 million investment in the AAE-1 cable project.

VNPT Vung Tau Cable Landing Station:

  • AAG 
  • TGN-IA
  • TVH (Tailand-Vietnam-Hong Kong)

VNPT Danang Cable Landing Station:

VNPT Quy Nhon Cable Landing Station

 

Viettel Vung Tau Cable Landing Station:

Viettel  Quy Nhon Cable Landing Station

Submarine Cables to/from India
Submarine Cables to/from India, by Suvesh Chattopadhyaya

As per the existing telecom licensing regime in India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) establishes the orders, regulations and directions on telecommunications sector, while the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) issues licenses. 

The company laying submarine cables in Indian Territorial Waters must hold a valid International Long Distance (ILD) license issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). International Long-Distance Operators (ILDOs) licensees are allowed to set up Cable Landing Station (CLS) for landing of submarine cables, governed by the regulations/orders as may be made by the TRAI from time to time.

On June 19, 2023, TRAI issued the recommendations on ‘Licensing Framework and Regulatory Mechanism for Submarine Cable Landing in India’, recommending two categories of Cable Landing Station (CLS) locations – (a) Main CLS and (b) CLS Point of Presence (CLS-PoPs).

According to TRAI, there were 17 international subsea cables (Seacom and MENA are considered seperate cables) landing in 14 distinct cable landing stations in 5 cities across India, in MumbaiChennaiCochinTuticorin and Trivandrum, and the lit capacity and the activated capacity on these 17 international subsea cables were 138.606Tbps and 111.111Tbps respectively, as the end of 2022.  

In addition, a number of new international submarine cables are in pipeline for rollout, including MIST, IAXIEX, 2Africa/EMIC-1, Blue-Raman, SEA-ME-WE 6TEAS, etc. 

There are also domestic submarine cables such as the Chennai-Andaman and Nicobar Island Cable (CANI) onnecting Port Blair along with seven other Islands of Andaman & Nicobar,  and the Kochi-Lakshadweep Island (KLI) cable system for a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine optical fiber cable between Kochi and 11 Islands of Lakshadweep.  

The operators and their cable landing stations in India 

To have a full picture about submarine cables landing in India, please read following articles by an Indian expert Mr. Suvesh Chattopadhyaya:

According to Mr. Suvesh Chattopadhyaya's contribution, here is a complete list of submarine cables landing in India:

Complete List of Submarine Cables Landing in India
Complete List of Submarine Cables Landing in India, by Suvesh Chattopadhyaya

Thailand wins a rising importance in the international telecommunicatons and Internet market with its geographical advantage and open market strategy. 

According to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC), there are now 11 licensed International Internet Gateway (IIG) providers and more than 200 Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Thailand; there are also 280+ telecom service providers in Thailand, more than 60 providers are granted with international telecom services licenses for IPLC, IDD, etc. The market for international connectivity in Thailand is highly competitive, with no single telecoms company controlling a significant amount of the market.

According to NBTC, the international Internet gateway bandwidth in Thailand has been approximately 13Tbps as of the end of 2020.

  • TOT, TRUE and 3BB (Jastel) are leading and dominating on fixed broadband service, accounting for a total of approximately 87% market share by the end of 2018.
  • AIS Group, DTAC Group and TRUE are leading and dominating on mobile broadband service, accounting for a total of approximately 97% market share by the end of 2018.
  • CSL-IX, Thailand-IX (CAT), AWN-IX (AIS), TIG-IX (TRUE) and Jastel-IX are leading international Internet gateway providers, each with international bandwidth of more than 1Tbps. TCCT-IX and TOT-IX each has about 700Gbps of international bandwidth. 

The majority of Thailand international bandwidth connect to Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. 

There are various cross-border terrestrial cable systems connecting Thailand with its neighboring countries including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia.

There are now 8 international submarine cable systems landing in Thailand, and two new cables under construction:

CAT is the leading operator for international submarine cable sytems in Thailand, being the landing party in Thailand for FEA, SMW3, SMW4, AAG, APG, TIS and ADC, owns and operates five submarine cable landing stations including

  • the Sri Racha Cable Landing Station,
  • the Petchaburi Cable Landing Station,
  • the Songkhla Cable Landing Station,
  • the Satun Cable Landing Station, and
  • the Chumphon Cable Landing Station (now for domestic cable)

TOT is the landing party in Thailand for AAE-1 and operates cable landing stations in Satun and Songkhla.

Sympony is a member of the Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) cable system, owns and operates the Maolee Cable Landing Station.

TRUE Corporation has invested in SJC2 cable system which is expected to be completed in 2022.

There are now three submarine cables landing in Myanmar, SEA-ME-WE 3 (SMW3), SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5) and Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1).

Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), the incumbent telecom operator in Myanmar, is the landing party in Myanmar for the SMW5 and SMW3 cable systems. MPT lands SMW3 at the Pyapon Cable Landing Station, and SMW5 at the Ngwe Saung Cable Landing Station.

China Unicom is the landing party in Myanmar for the AAE-1 cable system. China Unicom lands AAE-1 at the Ngwe Saung Cable Landing Station.

NTT's subsidiary Orient Link is buildign the Myanmar/Malaysia India Singapore Transit (MIST) cable system, which is designed to land in Myanmar.

In addition to submarine cables, there are various terrestrial cables connecting Myanmar, including

  • China-Myanmar International cable
  • Myanmar-Bangladesh-India terrestrial cable
  • Myanmar-Thailand terrestrial cable
  • Myanmar-Laos terrestrial cable
Submarine Cables and Cross Border Cables in Myanmar
Submarine Cables and Cross Border Cables in Myanmar, Source: MOTC, Myanmar

 

According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Myanmar, there are four categories of telecommunication licenses: NFS(Individual)/NFS(I), NS, NFS(Class)/NFS(C) and AS.

Telecommunication Licenses in Myanmar
Telecommunication Licenses in Myanmar, Source: MOTC, Myanmar

 

NFS (I) and NS licenses require application and approval. AS and NFS (C) license require only registration. ISPs can start operating under AS license simply by reselling connectivity, and also build dark fiber etc under NFS (C).

In September 2016, the Post and Telecommunications Department (PTD) under the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) of Myanmar issued Guidelines on Provision of International Gateway Services (Guidelines), accepting applications from additional foreign owned operators in a move that further liberalises the country’s International Gateway (IGW) licensing policy. In the past, the PTD did not accept applications for IGW licenses from foreign companies, except for the IGW licenses which were provided to Ooredoo and Telenor as part of the 2012-2013 tender.

Pursuant to the Guidelines, International Gateway services may only be provided when authorized by a NFS (I) license or NFS (I) license modification approved as specified in Licensing Rules. So, as a rule, one must already hold an NFS (I) license to apply for an IGW license. As of July 2020, the PTD has issued more than 70 Network Facilities Service (Individual) licenses to domestic and international carriers.

The authorized IGW licensee may construct and operate, on a non-exclusive basis:
(a) International transmission capacity, using any kind of network and any form of transmission technology, between places outside Myanmar and the relevant cable landing station or cross-border transit facility or radio communications facility in Myanmar;
(b) Cable landing stations or cross border transit facility or Terrestrial Cable Station;
(c) VSAT devices;
(d) International gateway facilities;
(e) Facilities ancillary to the facilities required for provision of the international gateway services, such as a customer support center, billing systems or an intelligent network platform.

 

Brunei Darussalam is shaping up as a bandwidth transit hub for the Bornean States of Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan. Terrestrial fibre optic cables connect these Bornean States to Brunei cable landing stations which then provide direct connectivity to 9 international destinations, namely Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Japan, China and USA.

The Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry (AITI) facilitates the deployment of telecommunication infrastructure and services, including submarine cables, in Brunei. An Infrastructure Provider for the Telecommunication Industry (InTi) is required to deploy a submarine cable system into Brunei.

As of January 2020, Brunei Darussalam is connected to 4 active submarine cable systems, with a potential bandwidth capacity of 10 Tbps. These 4 submarine cable systems are landed in two cable landing sites in Brunei, namely the Tungku landing site and the Telisai landing site.

There are currently two cable landing stations:

  • Tungku Submarine Cable Station
  • Telisai Submarine Cable Station

 

Cable Landing Stations in Brunei Darussalam
Cable Landing Stations in Brunei Darussalam, Source: UNN

 

There are now four submarine cables connecting Brunei:

  • AAG - Asia America Gateway cable
  • SJC - South East Asia Japan Cable
  • SMW3 - South East Asia Middle-East West Europe 3 cable
  • LBC - Labuan Brunei Cable.

Riding on the strong growth in IP-based traffic, Brunei has successfully lighted up 10 Tbps of international capacity to fuel bandwidth demand.

Brunei’s geographical location with no history of natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes, and substantially lower power costs, presented the sultanate with added advantages as a connectivity and transit hub for the underserved regions of Borneo Island and the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines East Asia Growth Area)

Brunei is connected Sabah and Sarawak of Malaysia and the West Kalimantan Province of Indonesia with terrestrial connectivity via the border crossing of Sungai Tujoh, and with commercial traffic of 1 Tbps.

 

Contributed by: Marcus Ang, et al., UNN

There are five cable landing stations in Sri Lanka, owned by three telecom operators: Sri Lanka Telecom, Lanka Bell and Dialog Axiata.

Sri Lanka Telecom is a state-owned telecom operator in Sri Lanka. In 2013, the Sri Lanka Government awarded Sri Lanka Telecom the role of ‘national backbone network service provider’. Under this license, Sri Lanka Telecom is the sole National Backbone Network (NBN) provider in Sri Lanka, providing the fibre-optic backbone to other telecom operators in Sri Lanka. 

Sri Lanka Telecom has the following cable landing stations:

Sri Lanka Telecom connects its cable landing stations to international backhaul hub at the Welikada SLT premises.

 

Lanka Bell owns one cable landing station in Colombo for the landing of FALCON cable system. 

 

Dialog Axiata owns one cable landing station in Mount Lavinia, for the Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) cable system and the Maldives Sri Lanka Cable system (MSC).

 

Cable Landing Stations and Data Centers in Sri Lanka
Cable Landing Stations and Data Centers in Sri Lanka

There are now two submarine cables landing in Bangladesh: SEA-ME-WE 4 (SMW4)  and SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5), at Cox's Bazaar cable landing station and Kuakata cable landing station respectively.

Both SMW4 and SMW5 are built and owned by Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited(BSCCL) . BSCCL has its head office and international internet gateway  (IIG) data center at Rahmans’ Regnum Center, 191, Tejgaon, Gulshan Link Road, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) issued draft licensing guidelines for two new submarine cable licences in early 2010. Each licensee should build a separate landing station within the general area of Khula-Patuakhali-Barisal-Chittagong, and should provide access, co-location and landing facilities to other submarine cable licensees, as and when required by the BTRC.

Besides the international submarine communication cable connecting Bangladesh, there are three terrestrial cables on India-Bangladesh boarders in Jessore, Sylhet-Comilla and Kurigram which may also bring Bangladesh into the global communication network.

According to BTRC, there are more than 20 International Gateway Way (IGW) operators in Bangladesh.

 

 

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is located at the heart of the Middle East and is a hub in the submarine networks in Middle East region.

Telecom sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is supervised and regulated by three key government authorities.

  • The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is the Government body that oversees all information and communication technology in the Kingdom. It is responsible for planning and implementing the Government’s policies and strategies for the telecom sector.
  • The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) is an independent Government agency with separate legal standing and financial and administrative independence. The CITC is responsible for licensing companies wishing to provide telecom and IT services in the Kingdom and for managing tariffs,
    content filtering and quality control. The CITC achieves this, in part, through hosting firewalls that block access to websites deemed offensive under the stringent censorship rules.
  • The Council of Ministers must sanction the granting of any licence under the Telecom Act.

As of 2020, there are now four major telecom operators in KSA, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Mobily (Etihad Etisalat), Zain KSAEtihad Atheeb Telecom (GO Telecom) and two MVNOs. In October 2016, the CITC announced an extension of licenses for telecom companies by 15 years and the issuance of unified licenses to four telecom service providers in KSA. For the extended period, telecom companies would have to pay 5% of their annual net profit as license fees. mobile operators Mobily and Zain KSA were granted unified licenses in February 2017, allowing them to offer a full range of telecommunications services, including mobile and fixed line, to compete with existing uniified licensee STC , while Etihad Atheeb Telecom (GO Telecom) was kept to offer only fixed-line services. KSA opened up the telecom market to MVNOs in 2013. Currently, there are two MVNOs operating in KSA – Virgin Mobile and Jawraa Lebara – with STC and Mobily as host mobile network operators (MNOs) respectively.

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) was established in 2004 by a consortium led by Etisalat, the UAE based telecom conglomerate. Zain KSA was founded in 2008, as a subsidiary of Kuwait based Zain Group (Mobile Telecommunications Company). Etihad Atheeb Telecom (GO Telecom), established in 2008, is the second  fixed-line operator in KSA. Saudi Telecom Company (STC), founded in 1998, is the incumbent telecom operator in KSA.

Additionally, Integrated Telecom Company (ITC), founded in 2005 and part of Al Mawarid Group, is a leading Saudi based telecom operators. ITC owns DSP, ISP and VSAT licenses as well as an independent infrastructure that includes two international landing stations in Al-Khobar and Jeddah connecting the FALCON cable system. ITC partners with Mobily to establish and operate the Saudi Fiber Optic Network (SNFN) connecting all cities of Saudi Arabia with fiber optic network of more than 17,000 km.

There are now 13 in-service submarine cable systems connecting Saudi Arabia, namely:

  • Saudi Arabia-Sudan-1 ( SAS-1,2003)
  • Saudi Arabia-Sudan-2 (SAS-2, 2011)
  • India-Middle East-Western Europe( IMEWE ,2009)
  • Europe India Gateway (EIG ,2011)
  • South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3( SE-ME-WE-3,1999)
  • South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 4 (SE-ME-WE-4, 2005 )
  • South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 5 (SE-ME-WE-5, 2016)
  • FLAG Europe-Asia (FEA , 1997)
  • FLAG Alcatel Lucent Optical Network ( FALCON, 2006)
  • Middle East North Africa (MENA , 2014)
  • Gulf Bridge International (GBI , 2012)
  • SEACOM/Tata TGN-Eurasia ( 2009)
  • Asia Africa Europe ( AAE-1, 2017)

There are also new submarine/terrestrial cable systems under construction or planning, including but not limited to:

  • 2Africa (2023), to be landed at stc's Yanbu Cable Landing Station, from where onward connectivity is available into stc’s Jeddah MENA Gateway Carrier Neutral Data centre (MG1). MG1 gives tenants the ability to onward connect to the whole of the Middle East region as well as to take onward capacity on other subsea and terrestrial networks.
  • Saudi Vision Cable (2023)
  • PEACE / J2M (2023)
  • Africa-1 (2023)
  • Blue-Raman (2024), to cross KSA via terrestrial route.
  • India-Europe-Xpress (IEX, 2024)
  • Trans Europe Asia System (TEAS, 2024)
  • East to Med Data Corridor (EMC, 2025)

 

Cable Landing Stations in Saudi Arabia

 

As most of the existing submarine cables are landed at Jeddah due to easy onward connectivity from Asia to Egypt & Europe.  There are advantages in having additional cables landed in new pieces of land elsewhere. As an example, SE-ME-WE-5 cable landed in Yanbu. Yanbu was selected as a SE-ME-WE-5 landing site for ease of connections to capital city Riyadh and Jeddah, as well as the fact that the seabed off its shore is very favorable for submerging the marine cable and could offer the necessary physical diversity.

 

stc operates cable landing stations in Jeddah, Yanbu, Al Khobar, Duba and Haql.

stc Jeddah cable landing station includes AL-Salamah Building, Alrowis Building and Al-Mujamah Building, for the following cables:

  • Saudi Arabia-Sudan-1 ( SAS-1)
  • Saudi Arabia-Sudan-2 (SAS-2)
  • IMEWE 
  • EIG
  • SE-ME-WE 3
  • SE-ME-WE 4
  • FLAG Europe-Asia (FEA)
  • MENA/GBI
  • 2Africa
  • Saudi Vision Cable

stc Yanbu Cable Landing Station:

  • Saudi Vision Cable
  • SEA-ME-WE 5
  • 2Africa.

stc Al Kohbar Cable Landing Station:

  • 2Africa
  • GBI cable system

stc Duba Cable Landing Station:

  • 2Africa
  • Saudi Vision Cable

stc Haql Cable Landing Station:

  • Saudi Vision Cable

In addtion, stc operates Mena Gateway (MG1) data center in Jeddah and the resident IX (JEDIX), as a “Data and connectivity hub” in the Middle East region. JEDIX, powered by and partnered with London Internet Exchange (LINX), is an open IX to connect all carriers, cloud and content providers in MG1 (MENA Gateway). stc Al Khobar Cable Landing Station is linked to MG1 data center in Jeddah, which is linked to all submarine cable systems, and GCC borders points via stc's extensive, diverse and redundant terrestrial network.

 

Mobily operates cable landing stations in Jeddah, Al Khobar, Yanbu and Duba.

Mobily Jeddash Cable Landing Station houses the following cables:

  • AAE-1
  • TGN-EA/SEACOM

Mobily Al Khobar Cable Landing Station houses TGN-Gulf.

Mobily Yanbu Cable Landing Station houses SEA-ME-WE 6

Mobily Duba Cable Landing Station houses Africa-1

In a partnership with Equinix, Mobily establishes full carrier-neutral Internet Exchange (IX) in the JED1 data center facility, a significant gateway for traffic which place KSA digital bridge between Europe, Asia, and Africa and aims to improve the peering ecosystem in the region.

 

Integrated Telecom Company (ITC) owns and operates two cable landing stations in Jeddah and Al Khobar for the FALCON cable system.

 

Zain Global Connect is building the Jeddah to Marseille (J2M) submarine cable system, with Zain KSA as the landing party in Jeddah. 

 

Contributed by Abdul Ravoof

There are now two submarine cable systems landing in Cambodia, the Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) and the Asia-Africa Europe 1 (AAE-1) cable systems.

The Malaysia Cambodia Thailand (MCT) cable system is the first submarine cable landing in Cambodia at the Mittapheap Cable Landing Station, put into operation in March 2017 by Telcotech. Telcotech also invested in the AAG cable system, withouth a landing in Cambodia. 

The Asia-Africa Europe 1 (AAE-1) lands at the Sihanoukville Cable Landing Station owned by Cambodia Fiber Optic Cable Network (CFOCN), in operation since November 2017.

In addition to MCT and AAE-1 submarine cables, there are various cross-border terrestrial cables with each of Cambodia’s three neighboring countries—Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. 

The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) was established in 2012, as an independent and accountable regulator striving towards a global, competitive, stable and more self-regulating telecommunications industry in order to generate economic growth and address the social needs for the development of Cambodia. 

Generally, the TRC is responsible for policymaking. The TRC is vested with regulatory and supervisory authority including the responsibility of issuing and administering licenses and the administration of Cambodia’s radio frequency spectrum. Previously the duties of reviewing laws and regulations and managing the telecommunications market were undertaken by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC). So far, the MPTC simultaneously played the roles of policymaker, regulator and operator of Cambodia’s fixed-line telephone network.

The MPTC established Telecom Cambodia in January 2006 as a state-owned operator in Cambodia. 

Telecom Cambodia, Viettel (Cambodia) and CFOCN are the only three fiber optical cable network operators in Cambodia. 

According to the TRC, there are two international gateways, three fiber optical cable network operators, six mobile operators and 68 ISPs in Cambodia as of August 2020.

There are now 6 international submarine cable systems connecting Pakistan, including SMW3, SMW4, SMW5, IMEWE, AAE-1 and TW1. Additionally, Orient Express and PEACE cable systems are under construction.

Pakistan Telecommunications Limited Company (PTCL) is the national telecommunication company in Pakistan and  an incumbent telecommunications operator in Pakistan. PTCL is the landing party in Pakistan for SMW3, SMW4, AAE-1 and IMEWE cable systems, operates cable landing stations in Karachi. SMW3, SMW4 and IMEWE land at Hawksbay beach, while AAE-1 lands at Clifton beach close to Captain Farhan Ali Shaheed Park.

Transworld Associates Private Limited (Transworld, or TWA) privately owns the TW1 cable system and is a member of the SMW5 consortium. Both TW1 and SMW5 land at Hawksbay beach and terminate at Transworld's cable landing station in Karachi.

Wi-Tribe LDI Pakistan is building the Orient Express submarine cable system, to be landed in Karachi and Gwadar.

Cyber Internet Services Private Ltd. (Cybernet) is the landing party in Pakistan for the PEACE cable system, to be landed in Karachi and Gwadar.

 

According to the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996 (Act), the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is a body corporate to regulate the establishment, operation and maintenance of telecommunication systems and the provision of telecommunication services in Pakistan, in additon to other functions.

Accroding to the Act, no person shall establish, maintain or operate any telecommunication system or provide any telecommunication service unless he has obtained a licence under this Act.

Currently there are three (3) types of licenses in fixed-line services, including Long Distance and International (LDI)Fixed Local Loop (FLL) and Wireless Local Loop (WLL). 

LDI license authorizes the licensee to establish LDI (Long Distance and International) network facilities, and to offer LDI services, anywhere in Pakistan. LDI service covers the provision of end to end communication between points that are located in different regions, not in the same Local Calling Area, or located more than 25/35 Km apart and located in Pakistan with other end located outside Pakistan. 

In addition, Telecom Infrastructure Providers (TIP) license authorizes the licensee to establish and maintain the infrastructure facilities (Earth Stations, Optic Fiber Cable (OFC), Radio Communication links, Towers, Poles etc.) in Pakistan to lease, rent out or sell end to end links to telecom operators licensed by PTA. 

The Sultanate of Oman (Oman) is a rising global telecoms hub in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of Oman was established in 2002, to liberalize and promote the telecommunications services in the Sultanate under the Telecommunications Act

As of 2020, the TRA has issued 4 Class I International Gateway licenses to Omantel, Nawras (now Ooredoo Oman), SamaTel (now Telecom Oman, or TeO) and Connect Arabia (known as FRiENDi). However, Only Omantel and Ooredoo Oman are operating submarine cables in Oman. There are now three broadband service providers in Oman, including Omantel, Ooredoo Oman and Awasr. And there are now five mobile operators in Oman, including Omantel, Ooredoo Oman, FRiENDi, Renna Mobile, Redbull Mobile, the latter three are Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).

Omantel is the incumbent telecom operator in Oman, 70% owned by Omani Government and 30% by public. 

Ooredoo Oman, formerly known as Nawras, a subsidiary of Qatar Telecom Group (Qtel) which was rebranded as Ooredoo in 2013.  

Sama Telecommunications (Samatel) launched MVNO service in Oman in August 2010, obtained Class I International Gateway license in 2011. In February 2015, Smatel was rebranded and reluanched its MVNO service as TeO (Integrated Telecommunications Oman, or Telecom Oman), and acquired the country’s first MVNO, Renna Mobile, in June 2016. 

Connect Arabia is operated as FRiENDi Mobile, launched MVNO service in Oman in April 2009, as the first MVNO in the region, and the 3rd largest mobile service provider in Oman. FRiENDi is part of Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa.

Redbull Mobile launched MVNO service in Oman in April 2019 under the license of Majan Leading Telecommunication LLC which was established in 2012 in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

 

Omantel and Ooredoo Oman are licensed to operate submarine cables in Oman.

Omantel operates the following submarine cable landing stations:

  • Muscat Cable Landing Station, for SMW3 and Oman Australia Cable (OAC),
  • Al Bustan Cable Landing Station, for AAE-1,
  • Al Seeb Cable Landing Station, for FALCON, MENA/GBI, TW1,
  • Barka Cable Landing Station, for BBG, EIG,EPEG and Pishgaman Oman Iran (POI) Network, 
  • Salalah Cable Landing Station, for G2A and 2Africa,
  • Diba Cable Landing Station, for OMRAN/EPEG, and
  • Khasab Cable Landing Station, for FALCON and OMRAN/EPEG.
  • Equinix MC1, for Oman Australia Cable (OAC). Equinix MC1 is the first world-class, carrier-neutral hub in Oman, being a joint venture between Equinix and Omantel, fully operated by Equinix independently from Omantel. Omantel is supporting customers for the connectivity into Equinix MC1 from various other POPs and cable landing stations.

Omantel is the landing party in Marseille (France) for the AAE-1 cable system.

Ooredoo Oman operates one submarine cable landing station:

  • Qalhat Cable Landing Station, for TGN-Gulf and SMW5.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) benefits from well-developed telecommunications infrastructure, with high penetration rates for both mobile and fixed-line services and hubs for international submarine cables in Fujairah and Dubai.

The main regulator in the telecom sector in UAE is the federal Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), based in Abu Dhabi City. The TRA was established under the 2003 Telecom Law, with a mandate to manage “every aspect of the telecommunications and information technology industries in the UAE”. This includes issuing licences, enforcing regulations, promoting e-government and the sector as a whole, establishing access management policy, resolving disputes, and ensuring service quality and access equity.

The Emirates Telecommunications Group Company(Etisalat, formerly Emirtel) was established in 1976, five years after the uniting of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, as the sector’s sole provider of telecoms services. Until 2006, Etisalat was the monopoly telecom operator in UAE.

Etisalat was also the regulator for telecom sector in UAE. Acknowledging that this created challenges for sector development, the UAE authorities began a process of market liberalisation leading to the creation of the TRA, which took over regulatory functions and licensed a second operator, the Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC, now branded as du), in 2006.

Etisalat and du remain a duopoly on both mobile and fixed-line telecom services in UAE. In September 2017, EITC (du) launched Virgin Mobile as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) under EITC (du). Etisalat also launched its own MVNO Swyp a few days later.

 

Etisalat and du also became a duopoly on the operation of international submarine cables in UAE.

Fujairah is the major hub for international submarine cables landing in UAE.

Etisalat Fujairah Cable Landing Station houses the following submarine cables:

  • AAE-1
  • BBG
  • FLAG-Europe Asia (FEA)
  • IMEWE
  • SMW3
  • SMW4
  • TEAMS
  • TGN-Gulf
  • TW1
  • UAE-Iran

Du Fujairah Cable Landing Station houses the following submarine cables:

  • EIG
  • GBI
  • MENA
  • Orient Express

 

Dubai is another hub for international submarine cables landing in UAE.

Etisalat Dubai Cable Landing Station houses the following submarine cables:

  • Fiber Optic Gulf (FOG)
  • TGN-Gulf

Du Dubai Cable Landing Station houses the following submarine cable:

 

In addition, Etisalat also operates submarine cable landing stations in Abu Dhabi and Das Island for the Qatar-UAE Submairne Cable System, and cable landing stations in Sharjah, and Sir Abu Nu'Ayr Island for its domestic submarine cable, Sir Abu Nu’ayr Cable System.

 

The ‎ Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) is the Communications Regulator in the state of Qatar established by virtue of Emiri Decree (42) in 2014. The CRA regulates the Telecommunications and Information Technology sector, postal services, access to digital media and spectrum. The CRA encourages and supports an open and competitive Information & Communications Technology (ICT) sector that provides advanced, innovative, and reliable communications services.

According to the CRA, as of 2020, there are three licensed Public Fixed Telecommunications Networks and Services providers in the fixed telecommunications market in Qatar, i.e., Ooredoo, Vodafone Qatar, Qatar National Broadband Network (QNBN).The retail market is a duopoly, in which Ooredoo is the incumbent and Vodafone Qatar is the challenger. QNBN is the third service provider and is primarily a wholesale provider of passive fixed connectivity services. Ooredoo and Vodafone Qatar form a duopoly in the mobile market in Qatar, concentrated with Ooredoo having a subscriber market share of around 63% in 2018.

Currently, only Ooredoo and Vadafone Qatar operate submarine cable landing stations in Qatar. Qatar-based Gulf Bridge International (GBI), the Middle East’s first privately owned submarine cable operator, doesn't own license to operate submarine cable landing stations in Qatar, while contracting with Ooredoo and Vodafone Qatar as landing parties to land its GBI Cable System in Qatar.

Ooredoo operates the following cable landing stations:

  • Doha Cable Landing Station,for AAE-1, FALCON, Fiber Optic Gulf (FOG), GBI, Qatar-UAE, TGN-Gulf
  • Halul Island Cable Landing Station, for Qatar-UAE Submarine Cable System

 

Vodafone Qatar operates the following cable landing station:

  • North Doha Cable Landing Station, for GBI cable system

For many years, the Ministry of Communications (MoC) is the main government body responsible for the regulatory issues and services telecommunications as well as postal services.

In 2014, the Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA) was established as the Kuwait Telecoms Regulatory Authority, is in charge of managing fair competition, licensing, the release of spectrum, cybersecurity measures and smart government strategies, taking over the MoC's role as sector regulator.

The Central Agency for Information Technology (CAIT) is another important body in ICT sector in Kuwait. the CAIT coordinates national e-services strategy and initiatives, is responsible for the Kuwait Government Online Portal, the Kuwait Government Call Centre and the Kuwait National IT Governance Framework. The CAIT has commissioned detailed surveys of the ICT sector, and established the data- and disaster-recovery centres used by various government ministries.

The mobile market in Kuwait is dominated by three providers: Zain Kuwait, VIVA and Ooredoo Kuwait. Zain is the first mobile operator in Kuwait and was founded in 1983 as MTC (Mobile Telecommunications Company), but was officially privatized in 1999 and rebranded as Zain in 2007. Ooredoo Kuwait, previously known as Wataniya, was initially launched in 1999 and acquired by Ooredoo for US$3.8 billion in 2007. VIVA is the brand of Kuwait Telecommunications Company (KSC) established in 2008, is a subsidiary of Saudi Telecom Company (STC).

The MoC is now the sole provider of fixed-line telephony and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services in Kuwait. The MoC’s fixed-line broadband services are supplied via five internet service providers (ISPs). Four of them are wire-based – Qualitynet, Fasttelco, Zajil Telecom and bOnline (formerly Gulfnet) – one wireless ISP, which is Mada.

Three ISPs were acquired by mobile operators: FAST telco, bOnline, QualityNet and Zajil-KEMS. Fasttelco was purchased by Ooredoo Kuwait in 2016, although they continue to exist as a separate legal entities. bOnline is a subsidiary of United Networks Company, part of investment outfit Kuwait Projects Company. QualityNet was 90% owned by Bahrain’s Batelco until May 2019, when the company sold its stake to VIVA for around KD28.3m ($93.2m).

Kuwait’s ISPs offer a wide variety of solutions, including the cloud, managed services and cybersecurity. QualityNet, Zajil and Ooredoo (Fasttelco) also offer co-location data centres in Kuwait City. Mada, a more specialised company, provides wireless corporate intranet and internet services, along with Integrated Services Digital Network lines.

The MoC operates the following cable landing station:

  • Kuwait City Cable Landing Station, for Fiber Optic Gulf (FOG), FALCON, GBI, Kuwait-Iran submarine cable systems. 

Zajil Telecom is the landing party in Kuwait and Bahrain for the Middle East-Europe terrestrial system (MEETS), operates its landing station in Kuwait City.

There are now only two international submarine cables landing in Iraq, i.e., FALCON and GBI cable systems.

The GBI cable system is the first subsea cable connecting Iraq, landing at the Al Faw Cable Landing Station in early 2012. The GBI cable system is privately owned and operated by Gulf Bridge International, which contracts with Iraq Telecommunications & Post Company (ITPC) as the landing party in Iraq.  The GBI cable network reaches Europe through Al Faw and terrestrial cables across Iraq and Turkey.

The FALCON cable system landed at the Al Faw Cable Landing Station in 2012, following the GBI cable system. The FALCON cable system is a private cable owned by Global Cloud Xchange (formerly FLAG Telecom), which contracts with Iraqi Telecommunications & Post Company (ITPC) as the landing party in Iraq.

As of 2020, Asiacell, Korek Telecom, and Zain Iraq are the three mobile operators in Iraq. Asiacell is a subsidiary of Ooredoo of Qatar, Korek Telecom is affiliated to Orange (France Telecom) and Zain Iraq is a subsidiary of Kuwait's Zain.

Iraq has a strategic location in providing regional and global connectivity for Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. It is crucial for the digital economy in Iraq to deploy sharing of optical fiber connectivity nationalwide and internationally.

 

 

Cable Landing Stations in Russia

Marseille is now the most hot cable landing site in France, with 16 submarine cables landing or confirmed to land in Marseille.

In 2019, the Port of Marseille-Fos constructed new subsea cable landing infrastructure which provides a reliable and convenient plug & play interface for subsea cables coming from all over the world to the Marseille area. The port delivers the first phase of the dedicated infrastructure which can land up to six cables, a one-stop shop system within the French administration for permitting process to facilitate applications, and secure facilities tailored to accommodate the Power Feed Equipment of subsea cables, while the Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE) can be installed flexbly at other cable landing stations or carrier neutral data centers.

Although it is open for licensed international companies to land subsea cable in France, Orange (France Telecom) have been participating in most of the projects as landing party in France.

 

Submarine cables connecting Asia and North/East Africa:

Except for the SMW3 cable which lands together with ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) at Penmarch CLS, most of above submarine cables connecting France with Asia and North/East Africa land in Marseille.

 

Trans-Atlantic cables:

 

Subsea cables connecting West Africa:

  • ACE (Africa Coast to Europe)

 

And other Intra-Europe subsea cables.

Sicily, Bari and Genoa are the major landing locations for subsea cable connecting Italia. 

Being the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily is a strategic location for subsea cables connecting Asia, Europe, Africa. There are now 19 subsea cables landing in Sicily, at cable landing stations in Palermo, Catania, Mazara del Vallo, Pozzallo and Trapani.

 

Bari is another major landing site in Italy. 

  • Telecom Italia Sparkle Bari CLS houses Italy-Albania and OTEGLOBE Kokkini-Bari cable systems
  • GTT (formerly Interoute) Bari CLS terminates JONAH cable system
  • Retelit Bari CLS is the landing station for Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1)

 

Genoa is the landing site for two new cables:

  • BlueMed cable system will arrive at Telecom Italia Genoa CLS 
  • 2Africa will land at Equinix GN1

 

Jio's India Europe Express (IEX) cable is expected to land in Savona

The Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA) is the leading telecommunications provider in Cyprus.

Cyta has developed an extensive submarine fibre optic cable network connecting Cyprus at three cable landing stations, namely Ayia Napa, Pentaskhinos and Yeroskipos.

Cytaglobal Submarine Cable Network
Cytaglobal Submarine Cable Network

 

Cytaglobal Cable Landing Stations
Cytaglobal Submarine Cable Network

 

Cytaglobal Pentaskhinos CLS:

  • TELFKROS

Cytaglobal Pentaskhinos CLS:

Cytaglobal Yeroskipos CLS:

 

Primetel Yeroskipos CLS:

Primetel owns a submarine fiber cable landing station in Yeroskiposis, the first privately owned landing station in Cyprus. In 2009, Primetel partnered with Reliance Globalcom (now Global Cloud eXchange, or GCX) on the HAWK cable system to land the Hawk cable at Yeroskipou cable landing station in Anatoliko (Paphos).

Being a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, Malta is located 80km south to Sicily, Italia.

Now, all the submairne optical fiber cables landing in Malta are connecting to Sicily, Italia and onward to the rest of the world. There are now 4 submarine cables connecting Malta and Sicily, GO-1 Mediterranean cable system, Italy-Malta cable system, Epic Malta-Sicily Cable System (EMSCS) and Melita 1. 

 

GO plc 

GO plc is the leading fixed network operator in Malta, offers a wide variety of services to global carriers. GO plc is the major telecom partner to international financial institutions, global online gaming companies, multi-national organisations based in the centre of the Mediterranean, as well as the Maltese Government. GO Wholesale provides reliable voice termination services to all local operators in Malta and is the roaming partner of choice for the leading mobile networks worldwide. Publicly listed on the Malta Stock Exchange, the majority shareholder of GO is TT Malta Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tunisie Telecom.  

GO operates Msida CLS for Italy-Malta cable system and St Paul’s Bay CLS for GO-1 Mediterranean Cable System.

The Italy-Malta cable system is a 238km cable connecting Msida CLS in Malta and Catania CLS in Sicily, Italy, ready for service in 1995. The Italy-Malta cable system is a bilateral system owned by GO and Telecom Italia Sparkle, and the first international subsea cable owned by GO. In 2017, GO and Sparkle upgraded the Italy-Malta cable system to support 100Gbps wavelength. 

The GO-1 Mediterranean cable system is a 290km and 4-fiber-pair cable linking St Paul’s Bay CLS in Malta to Mazara del Vallo CLS in Sicily, Italy, ready for service in December 2008, with initial capacity of 2x10Gbps DWDM.  GO partners with Interoute to land the cable at Interroute’s Mazara del Vallo CLS in Sicily, and connects to Interoute's pan-European network.

GO is building the LaValette cable system connecting Malta with France and Egypt, its 3rd submarine system and the first international connectivity in Malta to a country other than Italy.

 

Epic (formerly Vodafone Malta)

Epic Communications Limited is the largest mobile network in Malta by number of customers. In November 2020, Monaco Telecom acquired Vodafone Malta for US$250 million and rebranded it as Epic.

Epic owns the Epic Malta-Sicily Cable System (EMSCS), formerly known as Vodafone Malta-Sicily Cable System (VMSCS), connecting Balluta Bay CLS in Malta and Catania CLS in Sicily, Italy. The EMSCS cable system is an unrepeatered fibre optic cable system initially providing a 2 x 2.5Gbps, ready for service July 2004.

 

Melita 

Melita operates a mature and nationwide fiber optic network in Malta, operates Bahar ic-caghaq CLS for Melita 1 cable system.

The Melita 1 cable system is a 97km repeaterless submarine cable connecting Bahar ic-caghaq CLS in Malta and Pozzallo CLS in Sicily, Italy, ready for service in 2009. The Melita 1 cable system is the fourth submarine cable between Malta and Sicily. 

Bahar ic-caghaq CLS is adjacent to Melita Data Center, the only purpose-built data center facility in Malta, built to Tier III specifications.

Submarine Cable Landing License

To land or operate a submarine cable in the United States, submarine cable operators must obtain a cable landing license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  The FCC’s International Bureau, Telecommunications and Analysis Division (TAD) issues licenses to own and operate submarine cables and associated landing stations in the United States pursuant to the Commission’s authority under the Cable Landing License Act of 1921.

A cable landing license must be obtained prior to landing a submarine cable to connect: 

  1. the continental United States with any foreign country;
  2. Alaska, Hawaii or the U.S. territories or possessions with a foreign country, the continental United States, or with each other; and
  3. points within the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii or a territory or possession in which the cable is laid within international waters.

Streamlined Processing

Applications for cable landing licenses are subject to initial review for completeness of information and, upon acceptance for filing, public notice inviting comment. The FCC's rules provide for streamlined processing with action within 45 days of release of the public notice where the applicant can demonstrate eligibility for streamlining under the FCC's rules. 

The FCC will undertake to act on applications that are ineligible for streamlining within 90 days of issuance of a public notice unless the application raises questions of extraordinary complexity. 

To qualify for streamlining the Applicant must send complete copies of the application:

  1. the Department of State;
  2. the Department of Commerce; and
  3. the Department of Defense. 

The State Department has authorized the Commission to act on applications when the FCC notices the State Department in writing of the filing of an application and the State Department does not object within 30 days of the notification. 

Non-Streamlined Processing

The FCC also coordinates with other Executive Branch agencies applications where a foreign citizen or foreign-organized entity, including foreign government, would hold a 10 percent or greater direct or indirect equity or voting interest in the licensee.

In such senario, the Non-Streamlined Processing may be applied. The Non-Streamlined Processing involves an opaque and sometimes unending review process used by what's commonly known as Team Telecom (i.e., a working group of representatives from the Federal government entities charged with ensuring national security: the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Justice, State, Treasury, and Commerce, as well as USTR and the FBI), according to the-then Commissioner of the FCC, Michael O'Rielly, who appealed for more structure on Team Telecom reviews, to prevent abuse and unnecessary delay.

On April 4, 2020, the President Trump signed Executive Order 13913, "Establishing the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector," formalizing Team Telecom. In addition to others, the Executive Order formalized the long-standing review process—known informally as Team Telecom review—and established firm timeframes for Executive Branch review of applications. Under the Executive Order, once an application is deemed complete, Team Telecom must complete an initial review of an application within 120 days, and if the review reveals potential risks, must complete a secondary assessment within 90 days.  There is additional time built in for particularly complex cases, where Team Telecom Members or Advisors may disagree.

Special Temporary Authority (STA)

During the Non-Streamlined Processing, the FCC may grant the applicants an Special Temporary Authority (STA) to carry out certain engineering works and/or partial operation in the territory of the United States. STAs are granted with a fixed expiration date, usually six months, or for the term necessary to cover a special event, etc. STAs do not have grace periods and are valid only through their expiration date. The FCC may grant extensions of an STA for a period of 180 days, but the applicant must show that extraordinary circumstances warrant such an extension.

FCC Licensed Submarine Cable Systems

As of May 2023, there are 88 FCC licensed submarine cable systems (either operating or planning to enter service).

 

Guam is a natural hub and communication gateway for trans-Pacific telecommunications. On this 212-square-mile island, Guam arguably has one of the most extensive telecom infrastructures in the Asia Pacific region and most areas throughout the United States. 

There are following cable landing stations in Guam: 

  • Tanguisson cable landing station:  CUCN, AAG, AJC and Guam-Philippine
  • Tumon Bay cable landing station: TPC-5, AJC and Pacrim West
  • Tata Piti cable landing station: TGN-Pacific, TGN-IA and PPC-1
  • GTA Piti-I cable landing station: SEA-US, JGA South
  • GNC neutral cable landing station and data center: HK-G, JGA North, SxS

There are 7 cable landing stations in Hawaii Islands, including

Cable landing stations in the Big Island:

  • Kawaihae Cable Landing Station(Hawaiian Telecom): Honotua cable system
  • Spencer Beach Cable Landing Station(Hawaiian Telecom): Southern Cross cable system, and

Cable landing stations in Honolulu - Oahu Island:

  • Kahe Point Cable Landing Station(Hawaiian Telecom): Southern Cross
  • Makaha Cable Landing Station (AT&T): Japan-US CN
  • Makaha Cable Landing Station (Hawaiian Telecom): SEA-US
  • Keawaula Cable Landing Station(AT&T): TPC-5, Telstra Endeavour, AAG and ASH (American Samoa Hawaii Cable)
  • Kapolei Cable Landing Station (DRFortress): Hawaiki Cable

 

 

The ALBA-1 cable system is currenlty the only one commerical international cable system connecting Cuba to the world. Beside, there are GTMO-1 and  GTMO-PR submarine cable systems landing at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, not available for commercial use. And the ARCOS-1 Cuba Extension is still pending.

 

Siboney Beach Cable Landing Station

The Siboney Beach CLS is the terminal station for the ALBA-1 cable system, the first international submarine cable system in Cuba, connecting Venezuela and Jamaica, activated in early 2013. 

The ALBA-1 cable system is owned and operated by Telecomunicaciones Gran Caribe (TGC) which is 60% owned by state-run Telecom Venezuela and 40% held by Cuba’s Telco Transbit.

 

Guantanamo Bay Cable Landing Station

The Guantanamo Bay CLS (GTMO CLS) is located at the Defense Information System Network (DISN) Facilities at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO).

The GTMO CLS is terminal stations for GTMO-1 and GTMO-PR cable systems. 

 

Cojimar Cable Landing Station

The Cojimar CLS is an existing facility owned by Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA), located at N23˚9’ 44.98’’,82˚18’ 45.97’’W, as the cable landing station for ARCOS-1 Cuba Extension.

A U.S. law prohibiting doing business with Cuba following the Cuban Revolution in 1959 prevented any U.S.-Cuban cable building. Finally in 2016, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dropped the last legal restrictions for a direct U.S.-Cuba cable. 

In 2018, ARCOS-1 USA filed the FCC an application to add a branch to Cuba and a cable landing station in Cojimar, Cuba. The ARCOS-1 Cuba Extension will consist of two fiber pairs and will have an initial capacity of 100Gbps and planned capacity of 1.6 Tbps. 

 

The ARCOS-1 Cuba Extension has not been activated yet.

There are now three international submarine cable system connecting Peru, i.e., Pan-America, South American Crossing (SAC), and SAm-1.  A new cable system Pacific Cable connecting Peru to Chile and the United State is going to be ready for service soon in 2020. 

Lurín is the international telecommunications gateway to Peru. All the above four submarine cable systems land in Lurin. Additionally, SAm-1 has a cable landing station in Mancora.

In 2007, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) declared three submarine cable protection zones in Australian waters over submarine cables of national significance, including:

  • the Submarine Cable Northern Sydney Protection Zone extending from Narrabeen beach to 40 nautical miles off shore covering northern branches of the Australia Japan Cable and Southern Cross cable, including the area between these two cables; and
  • the Submarine Cable Southern Sydney Protection Zone extending from Tamarama and Clovelly beaches and extending 30 nautical miles off shore covering the southern branches of the Australia Japan Cable and Southern Cross cables, including the area between these two cables.
  • the Submarine Cable Perth Protection Zone stretching from City Beach, near Perth, to 51 nautical miles offshore (that is, to a water depth of 2000 metres) for the protection of the SEA-ME-WE 3 (SWM3).

Most of submarine cables connecting Australia land within the submarine cable protection zones in Northern Sydney, Southern Sydney and Perth.

Additionally, the government authority of the Sunshine Coast Council launched Sunshine Coast International Broadband Submarine Cable network, and built a government-owned submarine cable landing station in Sunshine Coast, Queensland.

 

Submarine Cables land in Sydney:

 

Submarine Cables land in Perth:

 

Submarine Cable lands in Sunshine Coast:

American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa).  The 2000 census showed a total population of 57,291 people. The total land area is 76.1 square miles (197.1 km2). American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the United States.

There is one international fiber optic cable between American Samoa, Samoa and Hawaii, the ASH/SAS Cable,  and connects America Samoa to the existing global telecommunications infrastructure networks.

The ASH/SAS Cable lands at the Pago Pago Cable Landing Station.

Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa and German Samoa, is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in Polynesia, Savai'i. The capital city, Apia, and Faleolo International Airport are situated on the island of Upolu.

Samoa is connected into the global submarine networks with the Samoa American Samoa Cable (SAS Cable), and onward connectivity with the American Samoa Hawaii Cable (ASH Cable).

The ASH/SAS Cable lands at the Apia Cable Landing Station.

French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity or constituent country of the French Republic. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory (Papeete).

There are several cable landing stations in French Polynesia, including Vaitape, Uturoa, Huahine, Moorea and Papenoo cable landing stations.

The Papenoo Cable Landing Station in Tahiti island is the cable landing station for the Honotua submarine cable connecting French Polynesia and Hawaii, with onward connectivity to link French Polynesia with global submarine networks.

There are now three international submarine cable connecting New Zealand to the world.

The Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN) made the first international submarine connection in New Zealand, followed by Tasman Global Access (TGA) and Hawaiki Cable. And the Southern Cross Next will connect New Zealand soon. Additionally, there is domestic submairne cable, the Aqualink cable system.

 

 

It is currently one international submarine cable linking Papua New Guinea, i.e., the PPC-1 cable landing at the Madang Cable Landing Station in Papua New Guinea.

The Southern Cross Cable Network is currently the only one international submarine cable landing in Fiji, and lands at the Suva Cable Landing Station in Viti Levu Island of Fiji.