By SingTel

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today announced it has signed an agreement to join a consortium of telecommunications carriers to build and operate the new Southeast Asia Japan Cable system (SJC), a new international submarine cable system with the highest capacity in the world.

The new cable system, which is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2012, is estimated to cost US$400 million and spans 8300 km, initially linking Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan. The 6-fibre pair high capacity submarine cable system has a design capacity of 17 Terabits per second (Tbps) and can be upgraded to 23 Tbps, making it the highest capacity system ever to be built.

Mr Mark Chong, SingTel’s Executive Vice President for Networks, said: “The Southeast Asia Japan cable network will cater to the strong demand for data, e-commerce, web applications and internet traffic in high growth countries in Asia. It sets a new benchmark for international connectivity, with its high capacity and resilient transmission infrastructure. It will also serve Singapore well when the government rolls out the National Broadband Network in 2012.”

“As the SJC connects Singapore to other cable systems in Asia, it will provide access to other parts of the region and serve as an important cable diversity route. SJC is designed to avoid outage prone areas. It will also be linked to the new Unity cable network, thus enhancing SingTel’s ability to offer superior connectivity between Asia and the US,” he added.

SingTel is a founding member of the Unity cable, which is expected to be ready in the middle of 2010.

The other members of the SJC consortium are Globe Telecom, Google, KDDI, Network i2i, Reliance Globalcom, Telemedia Pacific Inc., Ltd and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International. The consortium may be expanded to include other carriers in the future.

About SingTel

SingTel is Asia's leading communications group with operations and investments around the world. Serving both the corporate and consumer markets, it is committed to bringing the best global communications solutions to customers in the Asia Pacific and beyond.

With significant operations in Singapore and Australia (through wholly-owned subsidiary SingTel Optus), the Group provides a comprehensive portfolio of services that includes voice and data solutions over fixed, wireless and Internet platforms, as well as infocomm technology and pay TV.

To serve the needs of multi-national corporations, SingTel has a network of 37 offices in 20 countries and territories throughout Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States. These offices enable SingTel to deliver reliable and quality network solutions to its customers, either on its own or jointly with local partners.

The Group also has major investments in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand. Together with its regional partners, SingTel is Asia’s largest multi-market mobile operator, serving more than 273 million customers in eight markets.

SingTel employs more than 23,000 people worldwide and had a turnover of S$14.93 billion (US$10.37 billion) and net profit after tax of S$3.45 billion (US$2.40 billion) for the year ended 31 March 2009. More information can be found @ www.singtel.com and www.optus.com.au.