Philippines-based operator group PLDT announced a cash injection of $100 million to connect its network to two submarine cable systems, which will boost international data capacity to cater to large corporations, Manila Standard reported.
PLDT and Smart Communications first VP and head of enterprise business group Jojo Gendrano detailed the company will divide the cash evenly between two cable systems. First, it connects to the Asia Direct Cable System which adds 36TB more capacity to the network.
Then in 2024, the company will connect to the APRICOT cable system which adds a further 54TB.
The APRICOT Cable project network stretches12,000km connecting the Philippines to Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and Guam. It is predicted to be completed in 2024, while the Asia Direct Cable network is tipped for an early 2023 completion.
This latest announcement follows PLDT recently penning a deal to connect to the US-Transpacific Jupiter Cable system, for which PLDT invested US$136 million. The cable system connects the Philippines to Japan and the US.
Expanding network capacity has become a priority for PLDT as enterprises expand, particular global hyper-scale and multinational firms operating in the southeast Asian country.
