Global consortium begins construction of US$250mil SEA-US cable system

• NEC to supply system that provides 20Tb/s capacity to serve bandwidth growth
• Connects Indonesia and Philippines, but Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei also benefit

A GLOBAL consortium of telecommunications companies, formed to build and operate the South-East Asia-United States (SEA-US) submarine cable system, officially announced the start of construction.
 
The landmark project is the first to directly connect Indonesia and the United States. NEC Corporation and NEC Corporation of America are the system suppliers for the US$250-million project that is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016, NEC said in a statement.
 
The SEA-US system will link the five areas and territories of Manado in Indonesia, Davao in Southern Philippines; Piti in the territory of Guam; as well as Honolulu (on the island of Oahu), Hawaii; and Los Angeles, California in the continental United States.
 
The system will be approximately 15,000km in length, and has been designed and engineered to bypass earthquake-prone areas in East Asia, NEC said.
 
The cable system will provide an initial 20 terabit per second (Tb/s) capacity, with state-of-the-art 100 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) technology.
 
This capacity will help to meet the exponentially growing demand for bandwidth between South-East Asia and North America, especially for those two Asean countries, NEC said.
 
With further connectivity using existing and planned submarine cable systems in the region, other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, and Australia can enjoy the benefit of the SEA-US cable system.

The SEA-US consortium consists of PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Globe Telecom, RAM Telecom International (RTI), Hawaiian Telcom, Teleguam Holdings (GTA), GTI Corporation (a member of the Globe Telecom group of companies) and Telkom USA.
 
“This cable construction is significant as it is one of the biggest milestones for Indonesia’s rapid growth in communications and it demonstrates Telin’s commitment to providing Indonesia consumers with state of the art global infrastructure development,” said Telin president Syarif Syarial Ahmad.
 
“Our objective is now closer with SEA-US given that it is the first cable system with direct connection from Indonesia to the United States, where most of the Internet’s content is sourced,” he added.
 
The frequent use of high bandwidth Internet in Indonesia is ranging from business, where videoconferencing is used in many offices, as well as entertainment, where video and TV streaming have become part of casual activities of Indonesians.
 
“The SEA-US project will enable Globe to play a major role in providing superior connectivity for consumers and businesses in the Philippines to connect to the United States,” said Gil Genio, Globe Telecom executive vice president and chief operating officer.
 
“Our link-up with the SEA-US cable system will serve the exponential growth of mobile Internet use in our country, enabling the Filipino digital lifestyle and wonderful experience for our customers and businesses.
 
“This development will also benefit the outsourcing and offshoring industry, including major contact centres, business process outsourcing providers, global financial institutions and a host of other multinationals that require very large bandwidth as the Philippines has become the preferred destination for these companies,” he added.
 
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