Singtel is part of consortium building the Asia Link Cable System

Singtel, together with five regional carriers, has signed a US$300 million contract to build a 6,000 km submarine cable system, the Asia Link Cable System (ALC). Targeted for completion Q325, the ALC aims to support Southeast Asia’s economic growth by connecting Hong Kong and Singapore with the Philippines, Brunei and Hainan in mainland China.

The consortium, co-led by Singtel and China Telecom Global (CTG), comprises four other regional carriers – China Telecommunications Corporation (CTC), Globe Telecom (Globe) and DITO Telecommunity Corporation (DITO) of the Philippines, plus Unified National Networks (UNN) of Brunei.

Bill Chang, CEO, Group Enterprise and Regional Data Centre Business, Singtel said, “Southeast Asia is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, with rising digital demand from consumers and businesses, accelerated by the pandemic. Consumers and businesses are increasingly relying on services and solutions that require higher-bandwidth and lower-latency connectivity for their work, studies or entertainment.

"The ALC will bring greater connectivity capacities to transform industries, unlock more opportunities for innovation, further enhancing the digital experiences of Southeast Asian consumers and supporting the growth ambitions of the region.”

The ALC will adopt an open cable system design which will reduce the dependency on any single provider consortium partner, and enable timely capacity upgrades to cater to evolving carrier requirements. With eight fibre pairs in the system that can transmit up to 18 terabits per second (Tbps) per fibre pair, or the equivalent of downloading more than 2,500 hours of ultra high-definition video per second, the ALC will add more capacity and route diversity to existing networks, bolstering resiliency for international Internet traffic through Southeast Asia.

According to Singtel, almost 100% of all international data traffic that companies consume is transported and routed daily via undersea cables, at a time when demand for high-bandwidth, low-latency, and high-redundancy Internet connectivity is burgeoning in Southeast Asia. The region’s digital economy is forecast to expand to US$363 billion* by 2025, fuelled by growth in e-commerce and increasingly digital populations.

When completed, the ALC will augment Singtel’s submarine cable infrastructure and unlock opportunities for businesses in Singapore and the region to leverage Singtel’s network, solutions and services, as well as its regional data centre expertise. Enterprises can leverage Singtel’s over 25 Tbps cable capacity and more than 60 cable landing points operated by Singtel and its partners - whose diversified cable routing paths collectively offer reliable and secure connectivity with over 70 points-of-presence - to any destination.

Source: Singtel. Route map for the ALC.

Singtel is one of the most technically-experienced consortium partners. The company pioneered some of the earliest submarine cable investments in the region, including the 19,200 km Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 6 (SEA-ME-WE 6) submarine cable system connecting multiple countries between Singapore and France which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.

*E-Conomy Southeast Asia (SEA) Report - Roaring 20’s: The SEA Digital Decade released by Temasek, Google and Bain in November 2021.