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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Trade & Industry devider Japan's IPS unit boosts Philippine cable spending as AI hubs rise

Japan's IPS unit boosts Philippine cable spending as AI hubs rise

Published Mar 2, 2026 07:31 pm
InfiniVAN Inc., the Philippine telecommunications unit of Tokyo-listed IPS Inc., is doubling its investment in a new gateway in Aurora province to accommodate the surge in demand from international subsea cable operators and artificial intelligence firms.
InfiniVAN Chief Technology Officer Alberto Espedido said the company initially earmarked around $16 million for the construction of the station in Baler town, which began in January.
Espedido said the facility, which serves as a landing point, was slated to connect to only two submarine cable systems.
One is the 8,000-kilometer (km) Candle cable system, operated by a multinational consortium including Facebook parent Meta, while the other cable system will be operated by another American company.
“Just one month after we started the construction, there was already a sudden request of expansion. So our station is actually full to the brim,” Espedido told reporters.
To expand capacity, he said InfiniVAN will spend another $15 million, enabling the landing station to carry up to five subsea cable systems.
He said the facility is set to finish construction by the end of the year, with operations expected to commence immediately afterward.
Once fully online, Espedido said the station will provide “multiple terabits of capacity going in and out of the Philippines.”
As a landing station, the facility will provide the infrastructure needed to connect subsea cable systems to other points in the region, resulting in faster and more reliable internet speeds.
Such infrastructure is crucial for supporting data centers, which require low-latency, high-capacity bandwidth for their operations.
While there are still no concrete developments, Espedido said there are already talks between InfiniVAN and other companies planning to build data centers near the landing station.
“With the AI (artificial intelligence) right now, there's a sudden surge of data center requirements. And the requirements are normally very near or actually inside the [landing station] for low latency,” he added.
In addition, Espedido said the company is now gearing up to take over an existing cable station in San Fernando, La Union.
To be announced in the second quarter, he said the company is acquiring the infrastructure from a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC).
He also said there are early talks of expanding the Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network (PDSCN) from Zamboanga down to Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, collectively known as Basulta.
“And from Basulta we're planning to extend to the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), going down,” Espedido said, indicating that it would reach the likes of Malaysia and Indonesia.
PDSCN is a 2,500-km joint cable system project of InfiniVAN, Eastern Communications, and Globe Telecom Inc., with 33 landing sites across the archipelago and a cost of around $150 million.
Through these critical gateways, InfiniVAN also aims to support its trilateral partnership with Indian agentic AI firm Gnani Innovations Pvt. Ltd. and IPS Pro, a Tokyo-based subsidiary of IPS that provides services for call center operations.
The partnership among the three companies aims to provide advanced technology to help businesses progress while ensuring that customer attention remains a top priority.
With the connection to subsea cables, Espedido said all three firms can provide enhanced services to clients and customers in Southeast Asia and the global digital economy.
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