Globe, DITO, China Tel, Singtel, UNN sign $300-million deal for sub-sea cable system

Ayala-led Globe Telecom said Tuesday it has formed a consortium with several Asian telcos, which includes DITO Telecommunity, for an investment deal worth $300 million to build a submarine cable system in Southeast Asia.

In a statement, Globe said the submarine cable system aims to boost data capacity in the region and upgrade local capacities.

Apart from Globe and DITO, members of the consortium include China Telecom Global Limited (CTG), Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel), and Unified National Networks Sdn Bhd (UNN) of Brunei Darussalam.

Globe said the planned Asia Link Cable (ALC) will be approximately 6,000 kilometers in length, connecting Hong Kong and Singapore as its trunk, with branches into the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam and Hainan, China.

HMN Technologies Co. Ltd. (HMN Tech) was awarded as the system supplier and is expected to complete construction of the ALC by the third quarter of 2025, it said.

Globe said the ALC is seen to provide additional hyper-capacity within Asia and boost resiliency for international traffic.

“It will have a minimum eight fiber pairs in the system, with 18 terabits per second minimum trunk design capacity, adding more capacity and diversity to existing networks in the region,” it said.—LDF, GMA News