Eight Asian telcos to build subsea fiber optic network

Higher bandwidth capacity and redundancy will benefit region known for its subsea earthquakes

http://telecomengine.com/newsglobe/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_5344

The APG network will connect Japan, Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The signatories to the agreement for the development of the gateway are China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, NTT Communication (Japan), Vietnam Post and Telecommunications (VNPT), Korea Telecom (KT), Philippines Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and Telekom Malaysia. The telcos will jointly finance and own the APG network.

Note that Thailand does NOT have a Telco participant in this project.... so any impact on our own service may be only marginal.

But further down the same article is this piece of good news.....

Three of the telcos in the APG consortium – PLDT, VNPT and Telekom Malaysia - are also participating in the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) project which spans 20,000 kilometers to connect Southeast Asia with the US.

Aside from Bayan Telecommunications and Eastern Telecommunications from Philippines, the other members of the AAG consortium are Brunei government , AT&T (US), Bharti Airtel (India), Communications Global Network (UK), Pacific Communication (Cambodia), CAT Telecom (Thailand), PT Indosat (Indonesia), PT Telekomunikasi (Indonesia), Starhub (Singapore), Telecom New Zealand, Telstra (Australia), while participants from Vietnam are Saigon Postel and Viettel.

Originally scheduled for completion in the last quarter of 2008, delays in construction has led to revised deadline till August this year. The US$550 million the AAG network will link Southeast Asian countries, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Philippines with US territories in the Pacific, such as Guam and Hawaii, and the west coast.

CAT is a Member of this, so there may actually be some effect on our own dismal service.

Fingers and all my Toes Crossed, only 2 months to go until they open this pipe... I hope!

CS