TM leads push for new undersea cable

By H. AMIR KHALID (The Star Thursday May 3, 2007)

PUTRAJAYA: TM Bhd and 16 other telecommunications carriers, mostly based in South-East Asia, have signed an agreement to build a US$500mil (RM1.75bil) undersea fibre-optic cable linking the region to the United States.

The 20,000km long Asia-America Gateway, scheduled for completion by the end of next year, will avoid the most earthquake-prone undersea cable routes passing through North Asia.

As one of the lead members of the consortium, TM contributed US$50mil (RM175mil) to the total cost, according to TM chief executive for Malaysia business Zamzamzairani Mohamad Isa. The other consortium members include AT&T, Philippines Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT), Bharti Airtel of India, British Telecom Global Network Services, CAT Telecom of Thailand, Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc, and Indosat of Indonesia.

Undersea cables have traditionally passed through the northern Pacific, because they carry traffic from north Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan. But this has meant that they pass through the most seismically active parts of the Pacific Ocean floor.

The disadvantage of this route was demonstrated late last year, when an earthquake off the southern coast of Taiwan damaged several undersea cable systems, disrupting for several weeks telephone and Internet links between the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world.

The AAG cable's western terminus will be in Mersing. It will run from there through major landing points in Lantau in Hong Kong, Currimao in the Philippines, and Hawaii to its eastern terminus in San Luis Obispo, California.

There would also be secondary landing points in Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, and Vietnam.
The cable route will avoid the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire," seismically and volcanically active regions along tectonic plate boundaries, but will pass less active tectonic plate boundaries in South-East Asia, Zamzamzairani said.

In addition, a cable passing through a different part of the Pacific Ocean floor would reduce the likelihood of major disruptions similar to that caused by last year's Taiwanese earthquake as it would be unlikely for an earthquake to happen in two different regions at the same time.

The AAG cable's initial capacity will be 480 gigabits per second (Gbps)in total, but this could go up to as much as 1.92 terabits per second if the electronics were upgraded in the future.

Zamzamzairani said the cable would increase add TM's data capacity by 60Gbps from the current 75Gbps. The additional capacity could be used to improve the Internet experience for TM Net customers, or distributed to TM subsidiary companies in the region, he said.

The AAG will increase both the capacity and diversity of Internet links between Asia and the United States, according to TM group chief executive Datuk Abdul Wahid Omar.

"It will also serve as a direct link between major Asian regional centres with the United States. This will make it more viable for more foreign investments to pour into these fast growing economies and subsequently, open up new business opportunities for all," Abdul Wahid added.

Energy Communications and Water Minister Datuk Dr Lim Keng Yaik, who witnessed the signing ceremony, praised TM for its foresight in coming up with a long term solution that would prevent a recurrence of the telecommunications and Internet disruption caused by the Taiwan earthquake.

He called on other local companies to emulate TM in coming up with similar solutions that aided the country and the region.PUTRAJAYA: TM Bhd and 16 other telecommunications carriers, mostly based in South-East Asia, have signed an agreement to build a US$500mil (RM1.75bil) undersea fibre-optic cable linking the region to the United States.

The 20,000km long Asia-America Gateway, scheduled for completion by the end of next year, will avoid the most earthquake-prone undersea cable routes passing through North Asia.

As one of the lead members of the consortium, TM contributed US$50mil (RM175mil) to the total cost, according to TM chief executive for Malaysia business Zamzamzairani Mohamad Isa. The other consortium members include AT&T, Philippines Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT), Bharti Airtel of India, British Telecom Global Network Services, CAT Telecom of Thailand, Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc, and Indosat of Indonesia.

Undersea cables have traditionally passed through the northern Pacific, because they carry traffic from north Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan. But this has meant that they pass through the most seismically active parts of the Pacific Ocean floor.

The disadvantage of this route was demonstrated late last year, when an earthquake off the southern coast of Taiwan damaged several undersea cable systems, disrupting for several weeks telephone and Internet links between the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world.

The AAG cable's western terminus will be in Mersing. It will run from there through major landing points in Lantau in Hong Kong, Currimao in the Philippines, and Hawaii to its eastern terminus in San Luis Obispo, California.

There would also be secondary landing points in Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, and Vietnam.
The cable route will avoid the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire," seismically and volcanically active regions along tectonic plate boundaries, but will pass less active tectonic plate boundaries in South-East Asia, Zamzamzairani said.

In addition, a cable passing through a different part of the Pacific Ocean floor would reduce the likelihood of major disruptions similar to that caused by last year's Taiwanese earthquake as it would be unlikely for an earthquake to happen in two different regions at the same time.

The AAG cable's initial capacity will be 480 gigabits per second (Gbps)in total, but this could go up to as much as 1.92 terabits per second if the electronics were upgraded in the future.

Zamzamzairani said the cable would increase add TM's data capacity by 60Gbps from the current 75Gbps. The additional capacity could be used to improve the Internet experience for TM Net customers, or distributed to TM subsidiary companies in the region, he said.

The AAG will increase both the capacity and diversity of Internet links between Asia and the United States, according to TM group chief executive Datuk Abdul Wahid Omar.

"It will also serve as a direct link between major Asian regional centres with the United States. This will make it more viable for more foreign investments to pour into these fast growing economies and subsequently, open up new business opportunities for all," Abdul Wahid added.

Energy Communications and Water Minister Datuk Dr Lim Keng Yaik, who witnessed the signing ceremony, praised TM for its foresight in coming up with a long term solution that would prevent a recurrence of the telecommunications and Internet disruption caused by the Taiwan earthquake.
He called on other local companies to emulate TM in coming up with similar solutions that aided the country and the region.