PLDT to triple international capacity

MANILA, Philippines — Telco giant PLDT Inc. will bolster further its international capacity starting next month with the activation of the US-Transpacific Jupiter cable system.

PLDT said the activation of Jupiter by July would triple its international capacity of 20 Terabits per second to about 60 Terabits per second to US and Japan.

This will also bring PLDT’s total number of international cabling systems to 17.

The project, which links the country to the landing station in Daet, Camarines Norte, is expected to further enhance customer experience and will reinforce PLDT’s lead among local carriers with the most number of Philippine-terminating cables.

The Jupiter Cable system is a joint project of global providers spanning 14,000 kilometers from the US West Coast, Japan, and in Daet, Camarines Norte in the Philippines.

PLDT earlier announced investment of $136.7 million in the project with a consortium of global companies that include Amazon, Facebook, SoftBank, PCCW Global and NTT Communications.

“Investments on infrastructure like Jupiter allow PLDT to provide the vital connectivity that powers our digital economy, enabling us to help transform the country into a globally competitive and digitally-empowered nation,” PLDT and Smart Communications Inc. first vice president and head of enterprise business group Jojo Gendrano said.

“Specifically, this will fortify the Philippines’ position as the next strategic data center hub for global hyperscalers,” he said.

The addition of the Jupiter cable system to PLDT’s infrastructure is seen boosting significantly the telco’s extensive fiber network, providing greater capacity in multiple Terabits per second to customers as well as cable diversity to ensure ability to re-route traffic in the event of undersea cable cuts.

Gendrano said Jupiter’s inclusion to PLDT’s network would further accelerate the ability of its enterprise customers to execute their digital transformation initiatives.

“It will also enable us to increase international capacity into our data centers -- now a major component of the country’s digital ecosystem -- and enhance the attractiveness of the country as an investment destination,” he said.

“Moreover, it will allow us to uplift the infrastructure we provide to BPOs to support their hyper-connectivity requirements, not only in Metro Manila but also in other parts of the country,” Gendrano said.

The PLDT official likewise said Jupiter would help the company support and deliver more advanced digital services such as the increasing adoption of cloud services and the rollout of 5G for the benefit of its customers.

PLDT operates the country’s most extensive international submarine cable network and is set to expand further with the completion of two more major international cable systems, namely Asia Direct Cable, and the APRICOT cable system.

These international cable systems are set to be completed in the next two years.

As of end 2021, PLDT has five international internet gateways to fortify the group’s infrastructure for internet and IP-based services, as well as connections of its fixed and wireless networks to content and internet services available from, and businesses connected to, the global internet.

“PLDT continues to expand and invest in new international cable infrastructures to further improve the capacity and resilience of the country’s international network and continue to deliver unparalleled internet service to its customers,” PLDT head of technology Mario Tamayo said.