By Business World Online
GLOBE TELECOM, Inc. said the $250-million submarine cable system that will connect Southeast Asia and the US (SEA-US) is on track for completion by yearend, adding that the local telco’s investment will exceed the original budget of $80 million.
“If we include the Davao construction, that adds up to the investments. The $80 million pertains only to the SEA-US system per se,” Globe Senior Vice-President for Corporate Communications Yolanda C. Crisanto said in a mobile phone reply yesterday, but declined to disclose figures.
The SEA-US submarine cable system will link Davao; Manado in Indonesia; Piti in Guam; Honolulu; and Los Angeles. It is around 15,000 kilometers in length, along a unique route, and has been designed and engineered to bypass earthquake prone areas in East Asia.
An international consortium of six telcos started building the SEA-US undersea cable system in March 2015. These are PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), RAM Telecom International (RTI), Hawaiian Telcom, Teleguam Holdings (GTA), Globe unit GTI Corp. and Telkom USA.
“Globe expects to see the completion of a new submarine cable system by end of the year, directly connecting Southeast Asia to the United States,” Ayala’s telco arm said in a statement yesterday.
The SEA-US undersea cable system will provide “superior” latency, delivering an additional 20 terabits per second design capacity, and utilizing the latest 100 gigabits per second transmission technology.
