DICT, China Telecom eye HK-PHL cable landing station

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and state-owned China Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. signed on Tuesday a joint letter of intent to build a submarine cable landing station linking Hong Kong and the Philippines.

DICT Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. and China Telecom chairman and CEO Yang Jie signed the document.

DICT and China Telecom intends to first study the feasibility of establishing a submarine cable landing station before going ahead with the project.

“DICT and China Telecom will assess the feasibility of coming up with a cooperative effort. Specifically, our country needs cable landing stations that are independent of Globe and Smart,” Rio said during the signing ceremony in Quezon City.

“For more than 10 years, our gateway facilities are controlled by Globe and Smart ...”

PLDT/Smart and Globe Telecom Inc. are currently the dominant telco players in the country, while Mislatel Consortium—of which China Telecom is a part of—is the newly hailed third major telco player.

Udenna Corp., Chelsea Logistics, and Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co. are the Filipino members of the consortium.

“Basically, [the new landing station] is to make our internet connectivity very much faster and very much cheaper, Rio noted.

During a media interview, Mislatel Consortium spokesperson Adel Tamano said China Telecom will be using DICT’s cable landing stations to connect it with submarine telecommunications cables from Hong Kong and the US.

“This is our first step para bumamaba ang cost of internet access as the broadband from Hong Kong and the US is much affordable,” Tamano said.

DICT’s Rio, however, clarified that talks of putting up a cable landing facility with China Telecom were planned even before the third telco initiative was launched in April this year.

“So all players, the third telco, and all those who joined the contest, can avail of this facility,” he said.

The signing of the letter of intent coincided with the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Philippines.

“We believe today’s events will enhance the friendship between Philippines and China. We are very glad to sign the joint letter of intent with the DICT, and honored to be awarded new major player status,” China Telceom’s Yang said. —VDS, GMA News