Telcos link up for $500 million national undersea cable project

MANILA, Philippines — Connectivity giants PLDT Inc., Globe Telecom Inc. and Converge ICT Solutions Inc. are setting aside competition for a $500-million project to connect all islands to broadband service through undersea cable.

Information Secretary Henry Aguda told reporters that PLDT, Globe and Converge are planning to lay down an underwater cable that would cover all islands in the Philippines.

Aguda said the project would cost at least $500 million, with the providers willing to shoulder the amount, thus sparing the government additional spending in the push to connect more Filipinos.

Based on the preliminary design, the project will start in Batanes and cross to Palawan, before it is linked to Visayas and Mindanao, with a loopback for network redundancy. The plan is to make the fiber cables reach even the farthest towns.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has met with the telcos at least twice to talk about the project. The most optimistic target is to finish the project by 2028, but that means construction has to begin this year.

The DICT will also pull various regulators to the table given that the project can be used for two other purposes aside from connectivity: disaster resilience and national defense.

Aguda said the telcos plan to incorporate a digital acoustic system (DAS) into the fiber cables, so the government can use them to detect large-scale movement in the seas.

As such, the DAS can be tapped into by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology to detect seismic activities, warning of an incoming earthquake or tsunami.

The Department of National Defense (DND) can also rely on the DAS to collect data on vessel movement within national borders. Aguda said the project could be useful to the DND in efforts to fend off unwanted incursions in Philippine territory.

Still, the biggest use of the project is bridging the digital gap in Visayas and Mindanao. Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, only 48.8 percent of Filipinos have internet service at home as of 2024, with access concentrated largely in Luzon regions.

Zamboanga Peninsula recorded the lowest penetration at 21.2 percent, followed by Bangsamoro with 27.7 percent.