Google Teams Up with Asian Telcos for New Submarine Cable

Google and a number of Asian telecoms operators have signed an agreement to build and operate a new international submarine cable system named the Southeast Asia Japan Cable (SJC), according to India Infoline News Service, citing a joint statement released by the companies. Estimated to cost US$400 million, the 8,300-km cable will initially link Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan. The submarine cable system has a design capacity of 17 Tbps, upgradeable to 23 Tbps, the highest capacity system ever planned so far. The new cable system is timed to be operational by the second quarter of 2012. Other than Google, parties initiating the project include Japan's KDDI, Network i2i (a joint venture between Bharti Airtel and SingTel), Reliance Globalcom (through FLAG Pacific Limited), Globe Telecom in the Philippines, and Telemedia Pacific. The companies said other initial parties had also signified their intent to participate in the project once requisite approvals have been obtained.

Outlook and Implications

• Desire to Capitalise On Growing Internet/Data Demand: In the joint statement, the companies said "the new cable system will address broadband demand by providing much needed capacity and faster, more reliable connectivity to sustain the unprecedented growth in data, web applications and internet traffic throughout Asia." By providing exclusive connection to Indonesia, the project will particularly address the fast-growing bandwidth demand for broadband transmission between the largest country in South-east Asia and the key Asian gateways of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. The project partners may also expand the cable to India and China in the future to capitalise the significant Internet/data demand there, while creating an extensive pan-Asia presence.
• Continuous Investments in Undersea Cable Systems in Asia: Significant investments continue to be made into rolling out submarine cable systems across Asia, with several other new cables currently being constructed or recently completed. These include the Asia-Pacific Gateway project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2011 and will link mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore (see Asia-Pacific: 27 May 2009: Eight Companies to Jointly Build New Asian Undersea Cable). Only a couple of days earlier, Pacnet, one of the largest independent cable operators in the region, announced its plan to build West Asia Crossing (WAC), a new submarine cable network that would provide direct connectivity between India and the other parts of Asia (see Asia-Pacific: 9 December 2009: Pacnet to Roll Out US$150-mil. Undersea Cable Linking India with Asia).