PLDT said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has given it provisional authority to construct two new landing sites for the new intra-Asia submarine cable facing the Pacific side of the Philippines.
The new cable landing stations for the Apricot cable system will be constructed in Baler, Aurora, and in Digos, Davao.
With these sites, telco providers will have new alternate routes which do not traverse the West Philippine Sea, the company said in a statement.
The new cable landing stations will help PLDT’s international cable network deliver faster internet speeds into and out of the Philippines, the company said.
“When our Baler and Davao cable landing stations are completed, PLDT will have alternate sites facing the Pacific, making it easier to hook up to data offices in the US,” said PLDT and Smart President and CEO Alfredo Panlilio.
Once completed in 2025, the 12,000-kilometer-long cable system will raise PLDT’s total international capacity to more than 140Tbps when it is fully equipped.
It will also connect the Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Guam.
As of March 2023, PLDT has expanded its total fiber footprint to over 1.1 million kilometers, consisting of over 231,000 kilometers of international fiber and over 874,000 kilometers of domestic fiber.
Source: https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/07/19/23/pldt-gets-ntc-nod-for-new-cable-landing-sites