PLDT Inc. is investing P3.9 Billion (US$80M) in the APRICOT undersea cable system to entice global hyperscalers expanding in the region, the telco today, August 16.

PLDT formed a consortium with four other parties for the cable system, which will be fully operational in 2024.

The APRICOT cable will expand PLDT's network bandwidth capacity to service the country’s growing data traffic.

It will augment PLDT's international capacity for data traffic, particularly to the US and across Asia and the Pacific.

The 12,000-kilometer long cable system will have design capacity of more than 190Tbps, connecting the Philippines to Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and Guam.

“We continue to invest in international submarine cable systems, which are necessary infrastructure for global communications supporting ICT services," according to PLDT and Smart Communications President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio.

This is "aligned with our efforts to make the Philippines a strategic data center hub in the region,” he pointed out.

"This enhances how the Philippines connect to the rest of the world, a big plus for global hyperscalers who are looking at our country for their cloud region expansion,” according to ePLDT President and CEO and SVP and Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups Jovy I. Hernandez.

The new cable system features state-of-the-art facilities featuring 400G transmission technology and multiple pairs of high-capacity optical fibers.

It also features state-of-the-art submersible ROADM (reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer) employing WSS (wavelength selective switch) for a grid-less and flexible bandwidth configuration, based on SDM (Space Division Multiplexing) design.

These features ensure that massive amounts of data traffic will be facilitated, creating exceptional service quality to end users.

The APRICOT cable project will further serve PLDT Group's fixed and wireless subscribers on the consumer level, and its large enterprise client base.

“APRICOT is key to enhancing network resilience because new cable landing stations in Luzon and Mindanao will be built as part of this submarine cable system," says PLDT VP and International Facilities Investments Management Head Gene Sanchez.

"With the cable to be routed via the eastern coast of the Philippines, it will also increase the submarine cable route diversity in the Asia-Pacific region," he noted.

The APRICOT Cable project is the third international cable network system announced by the PLDT Group in the last two years.

When completed, APRICOT would bring PLDT’s participation in 18 international cable systems.

Earlier, PLDT announced its US$136.7 million investment in the Jupiter Cable project, and in the 9,400-kilometer Asia Direct Cable system, set to be completed by end 2021 and early 2023, respectively.

Currently, PLDT has extensive participation in 14 international submarine cable systems and one terrestrial system carrying data traffic going in and out of the Philippines.

These include the Asia-America Gateway (AAG), Asia-submarine Cable Express, APCN2, and South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 3 which are routed through PLDT’s three existing cable landing stations situated in Batangas, Daet, and La Union.