3 days ago
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Telco giant PLDT Inc. has completed the installation of an underwater cable system at its landing stations in Aurora and Davao, boosting its international capacity for data traffic.
The 12,000-kilometer-long Apricot cable system linked to landing stations in Baler, Aurora and Digos City, Davao del Sur seeks to meet the growing demands of telecommunications within the Asia Pacific region.
A high-capacity fiber-optic submarine cable system, it is designed to support more than 211 terabit per second (Tbps).
“This bolsters PLDT’s capability to serve the country’s growing data traffic and further boosts the Philippines’ aspirations to be a major transit hub and potential destination for global hyperscalers expanding in the region,” the telco said in a statement.
PLDT said the Apricot system boosts its international capacity by as high as 33 percent or more than 140 Tbps.
With its strategic location, the cable system offers an alternate route from the West Philippine Sea (WPS), which is currently in the midst of a heated dispute.
Apricot connects Singapore to Japan with branches to the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Guam, complementing with other intra-Asia and transpacific submarine systems.
“International submarine cable systems are vital network infrastructure that are essential in supporting the exponential growth of data traffic brought about by the increasingly digital lifestyles of Filipinos,” said PLDT Chief Operating Officer Butch Jimenez.
“Aside from supporting international data traffic, the Apricot cable system’s route also provides resiliency to PLDT's domestic network between Luzon and Mindanao,” he added.
With this new cable system, PLDT aims to accelerate its high-capacity data services as the need for cloud, e-commerce, and content delivery continues to grow.
