PLDT plans $100 million investment in second subsea link

15 June 2015 |

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) is planning to invest up to $100 million on the construction of its second submarine cable to the US, according to local reports.

PLDT’s first cable landing in the US was the 20,000km Asia-America Gateway connecting various regions of Southeast Asia to California, US, and Gene Sanchez, VP, international network at PLDT, told reporters that the second cable is in the early planning phase.

“We are still in the planning stage for our second international cable landing in the US,” Sanchez said. “The investment could range between $50 million and $100 million.”

Sanchez added that the company was looking at Daet or Batangas as landing stations in the Philippines. The cable is also expected to bypass Guam and Hawaii.

“We are looking to sign the memorandum of understanding within the year,” he said. “It is going to be supported by a consortium of telecoms companies.”

PLDT is also working on the roll-out of its terrestrial, fibre-optic network, and is focussing heavily on upgrading its services to meet the growing demands from its data-hungry customers.

“We have always anticipated the need to constantly increase our capacity especially in serving the country’s leading industries given their demand for a resilient, low-latency and expansive data-driven network,” said Eric Alberto, head of enterprise, international and carrier business at PLDT.

In August last year PLDT acquired 10% of Germany’s Rocket Internet for €333 million.