Asia Direct Cable Consortium to build APAC submarine cable

Singtel has announced that the Asia Direct Cable (ADC) Consortium, of which it is a member, is building a high-performance submarine cable connecting China (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province), Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The consortium, which includes CAT, China Telecom, China Unicom, PLDT, Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications and Viettel, has selected NEC Corporation to construct the 9,400-kilometer long ADC cable which is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022.

Ooi Seng Keat, Vice President, Carrier Services, OTT and Satellites, Group Enterprise at Singtel said, “The Asia Direct Cable we're building will meet the rapidly growing demand for high-speed connectivity for advanced technologies such as 5G, IoT-related services, and high-definition video in the economically dynamic regions of East and Southeast Asia. The new cable will enhance our infrastructure and also our ability to harness new technologies for future growth. Together with the Southeast Asia – Japan Cable 2 system to be completed next year, the Asia Direct Cable will boost diversity and resilience of our global network, reinforcing Singtel's position as the region’s leading data services provider and strengthening Singapore's status as a global business and info-communications hub.”

The cable will feature multiple pairs of optical fibres and is designed to carry more than 140 Tbps of traffic, enabling high capacity transmission of data across East and Southeast Asia, further enhancing the expansion of communications networks in the region.

According to Research and Markets, the submarine cable systems market in Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 9.8% from 2018 to 2027, increasing from US$5.6 billion to US$14.7 billion over the nine-year period.