By Telecompaper
May 10, 2017
Philippines operator Globe Telecom and Belau Submarine Cable Corporation (BSCC) have signed an agreement to allow a submarine fiber optic cable spur, currently under construction from the Republic of Palau, to interconnect with the Southeast Asia-United States (SEA-US) cable for onward transport to Guam.
Globe (Philippines) and Telin (Indonesia) are major owners of SEA-US, a new cable that will link Indonesia and the Philippines to the USA via Guam and Hawaii, in partnership with GTA (Guam), Hawaiian Telecom (USA), and RTI (USA). With investments of around USD 250 million, the 14,000-kilometer cable system will consist of two fiber pairs with an initial design capacity of 20 Tbps. The cable will use submarine fiber-optic technology with 100 Gbps transmission equipment per pair.
According to Globe, construction of the spur from Ngeremlengui state in Palau to the SEA-US cable to the north is well advanced, with the modular Cable Landing Station expected to arrive at Koror this week. From there it will be transported by barge to the landing site for installation.
The interconnection agreements provide for five 100 Gbps wavelengths to Guam, more than 1000 times the current capacity available in Palau, and will provide a big boost to businesses, schools, hospitals and clinics, government services, entertainment, and social networking. The BSCC is expected to be in service in December this year.
