Facebook will join forces with Google and Southeast Asia Telecom to build two submarine cable systems linking Southeast Asia and North America, one of which will be more than 15,000 kilometers in length and will strengthen Singapore’s role as a digital center of gravity and meet Southeast Asia’s demand for high-speed Internet and greater bandwidth.
The two cables, named “Echo” and “Bifrost,” will cross the Java Sea and increase trans-Pacific transmission capacity by about 70 percent, said Salvadori, vice president of Facebook’s network investment department, on 29. He did not disclose the amount of investment, only that “for us, this is a major investment in Southeast Asia.
Salvadori noted that the two submarine cables are the first to directly connect North America to some of Indonesia’s major regions and to enhance transmission capacity between Indonesia’s central and eastern provinces. The two submarine cables linking Southeast Asia still have to be approved by regulatory authorities.
Salvadori said that Facebook will work with Google and Indonesian telecom operator Axiata on the construction of the “Echo” cable, which is scheduled to be completed by 2023.
For the Bifrost cable, Facebook is working with Telkom’s subsidiary Telin and Singapore’s Keppel, with a total length of more than 15,000 kilometers, scheduled to be completed by 2024.
Keppel Enterprise T&T CEO Feng Ting Hui said this will be a key cross-border infrastructure that will strengthen Singapore’s role as a digital hub while also supporting the growing demand for digital connectivity in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia has a population of more than 650 million people, and countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines are among the fastest growing developing countries in the world.
According to a survey conducted by the Indonesian Internet Providers Association in 2020, 73% of Indonesia’s 270 million people already use the Internet, but most of them access the Internet through mobile devices, with less than 10% accessing the Internet through broadband.
Salvadori said that in addition to the submarine cable linking Southeast Asia, Facebook also continues to expand the submarine cable plan in Asia and the world, including the Pacific Fiber Network (PLCN).
The PLCN was blocked by the U.S. government because of its connection to Hong Kong. We are working with partners and regulators to address all the concerns and we expect the PLCN to be a valuable, high-yield trans-Pacific cable in the near future,” said Salvadori.
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