PLDT Inc. completed the landing of the shore-end segment of the $75 Million (about P4.4 Billion) Asia Direct Cable system (ADC) at its station in Nasugbu, Batangas, the telco announced Friday, November 25.
ADC is a global consortium comprised of leading communications and technology companies, including PLDT, China Telecom, China Unicom, National Telecom, Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications and Viettel Group.
The construction of the 9,400-kilometer subsea cable starts in the Philippines, with all landing links expected to be complete by end of 2023.
The subsea cable system will cement Batangas’ position as a crucial landing point of global data in the Philippines and propel the country’s digitalization, remarked PLDT SVP and Head of Enterprise & International Business Group, Jojo G. Gendrano.
"We are committed to build the country’s hyperscale ecosystem that will further the country’s position as the next digital destination in Asia Pacific,” he added.
ADC will boost the PLDT Group’s international capacity by 36 Terabits per second (Tbps), bringing it to nearly 100 Tbps by end-2023.
The second stage of the marine installation will link six other international cable landing points in Asia including Tuas, Singapore; Chung Hom Kok, Hong Kong; Quy Nhon, Vietnam; Sri Racha, Thailand; and Shantou, China.
The marine installation of the trunk segment to Maruyama, Japan was completed during the first stage of the marine works.
Once the ADC is completed and put in service by end-2023, PLDT’s Batangas cable landing station can host a total of three international subsea cable systems.
It currently hosts SEA-ME-WE3 cable that goes to South Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe, as well as the regional Asia Pacific Cable Network Number 2.
PLDT Batangas Cable Station remains one of the vital landing termination hubs for global connectivity in the Philippines, as the telco’s longest continuously operating cable station and the station closest to the National Capital Region.
The facility is globally-certified, with an ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) certification for seven consecutive years.
PLDT’s cable landing stations across the Philippines are directly connected to VITRO Makati2, the upcoming VITRO Sta. Rosa and the rest of the telco’s network of data centers.
So far, PLDT has invested over ₱518.5 billion in total capex over the last ten years, significantly expanding its data center sites to 11 and its total fiber footprint to about 1,091,000 kilometers as of end-September.