Lightstorm Finishes Integrating Subsea Cables Bought from RTI

By Jason Ma, Data Center Dynamics
May 9, 2025

Singapore-based networking firm Lightstorm has finished integrating 21,000km of subsea cables it bought from RTI into its network.

The I Squared Capital-owned firm made the acquisition in early 2024, bringing the Japan-Guam-Australia North (JGA-N) and “significant portions” of the JGA-South and Southeast Asia-United States (SEA-US) cable systems into Lightstorm’s ownership.

Lightstorm said the cables would offer more than 75Tbps of capacity.

JGA-North and JGA-South are two parts of a system connecting Japan to Australia with a landing station in Guam. The northern portion was solely owned by RTI, but the southern portion was developed by a consortium including AARNet and Google. Both entered service in 2020.

SEA-US, launched in 2017, connects Indonesia to the west coast of America with stopovers in the Philippines, Micronesia, Palau, Guam, and Hawaii. As well as RTI, the consortium for the cable includes GTA TeleGuam, Globe Telecom, Hawaiian Telecom, and Telin.

All routes bypass the South China Sea.

Lightstorm estimates that the acquisition will connect them to more than 250 data centers in 14 countries.

Established in 2020, Lightstorm provided fiber and NaaS products in India before expanding into other markets in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia.

The company operates more than 30,000km of terrestrial fiber, offering 1,500Tbps of capacity across its terrestrial and subsea portfolio.

I Squared Capital, an infrastructure investor, has digital investments including BDx in APAC, nLighten in Europe, Exa Infrastructure, Kio in Latin America, and several tower firms.

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