Optical networking vendor Infinera says it has won a contract with Philippine broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions to supply submarine line terminal equipment (SLTE) for Converge’s landing station for the Bifrost Cable System.
Under the deal, Infinera will supply its GX Series Compact Modular Platform and its next-gen ICE7 optical engine, which enables single wavelengths of up to 1.2 Tbps and improved capacity reach. Converge ICT will deploy the SLTE for the two fibre pairs in the Bifrost cable for which it has an Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU). No financial details were disclosed.
Infinera says the solution provides Converge ICT with “an operationally seamless solution including advanced spectrum sharing capabilities in a single platform that supports both ICE7 transponders and next-generation optical line system (OLS) capabilities.”
The 15,000-km Bifrost subsea cable – being developed by Meta, Telin and Keppel T&T subsidiary Keppel Midgard Holdings (KMH) – aims to connect Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Guam, Mexico and California with a designed capacity of 10.4 Tbps. The system is scheduled to be ready for service by the first quarter of 2025, according to Telegeography.
Converge ICT joined Bifrost in 2021 after acquiring an IRU from KMH for one fibre pair on the system. KMH and Converge also agreed to jointly develop the Bifrost branch cable that will land in Davao, with Converge serving as landing partner.
Meanwhile, Infinera added that Converge ICT will also use its solutions to modernize its nationwide terrestrial fibre network across the Philippines, although no other details were given.
In July, Converge ICT revealed it was collaborating with Ribbon Communications to boost the capacity of its terrestrial fibre backbone to 1.2 Tbps per channel, which would enable it to support hyperscale applications such as AI.
That deal came a few weeks after Converge signed an MOU with US-based IT solutions provider Supermicro to build three 'green' AI data centres in the Philippines.