Asia gets US$430m submarine link

Japanese giant NTT will launch a US $430m undersea cable linking business hubs in East Asia in June 2012.

The 40 Gbps cable will be constructed by NTT, Malaysia-based Telekom Malaysia, Philippines-based PLDT and Singapore-based StarHub.

It will initially carry traffic between those four countries with a separate route to Hong Kong to be added in December next year.

“Connections to Mainland China and additional Southeast Asian countries are expected to be launched in collaboration with major carriers in these markets,” NTT said in a statement.

Once completed, the total carrying capacity of the cable will exceed 15 terabits a second, NTT said.

“The Asia Submarine Cable Express also has a capability to incorporate 100 Gbps optical technology in the future,” NTT said.

NTT said the cable would be “specially designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons, particularly in areas such as the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan, where undersea earthquakes have disrupted international communications in the past few years.”