Savills Korea And KT Sign MOU For APAC SubSea Cable

A joint development of a 9,000km long submarine cable connects 6 countries in APAC

Savills Press Release
February 14, 2022

Savills Korea announced a joint development with KT of a new submarine cable in APAC, in response to fast-growing demand for global data capacity growth.

Savills Korea and KT held an MOU signing ceremony at KT’s Songpa office building located at Songpa-gu, Seoul. Details of the project would be joint development of attracting global cloud operators and telecommunications operators, construction of submarine cables and operation management after completion.

The new cable with a total length of 9,000km will land in 6 countries within APAC connecting South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore.

Based on the MOU, KT will conduct consulting based on its years of experience in design, construction, and operation of submarine cables. KT will also participate as a strategic investor. Savills Korea will be in charge of Asset Management, services such as business planning and implementation, attracting investors, contracting, and licensing.

Submarine cables link continents undersea and are responsible for more than 90% of global data transfer. As companies' Digital Transformation (DX) and spread of cloud services, popularization of online video services (Over the Top “OTT”) and international transmission of high-capacity data such as video conferencing are rapidly increasing, the need for expansion and stable operation of submarine cable is being emphasized. According to Cisco, a global telecommunication equipment company, global annual internet usage is expected to increase 220% from 1.5 zeta bytes (ZB) to 4.8ZB in 2022.

KT has the widest submarine cable infrastructure in Korea, including the Asia-Pacific Gateway (APG) and New Cross Pacific Cable System (NCP). KT was the first in the world to obtain ISO 22301, an international standard certification for business continuity management in the field of international submarine cables and is highly competitive in submarine cable market for continuing to train professionals.

Savills Korea is the South Korean branch of Savills, a global real estate service provider established in 1855, and provides consulting services in commercial real estate businesses, including data centers. Savills Korea was involved in data center transactions with a total of 140MW in the Seoul metropolitan area, including two data centers established and operated by a joint venture between Equinix and GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund.

Crystal Soojeong Lee, CEO of Savills Korea commented “The partnership with KT is a fruit of our consistent effort to broaden the extents of services we provide. Unprecedented synergy effect is expected through Savills’ abundant network and KT’s professional technology.”

Soo-jung Shin, the head of KT Enterprise added “Demand derived from services such as DX-based cloud services and OTT falls upon not only South Korea, but the entire Asian region and submarine cable industry is anticipated to expand even further. We look forward to reinforcing our hegemony in the market in cooperation with Savills Korea.”