With the completion of the new Jupiter Cable System by the end of 2021, PLDT Inc. is expected to increase its international capacity by 5 times, company officials said on Sunday.
PLDT Inc. Chief Revenue Officer Alfredo S. Panlilio said barring any construction delay, Jupiter may be completed “by the end of the year.”
This, he said, will increase PLDT’s international capacity to close to 60 terabits, which will help accommodate the growing demand for data.
“This further investment in subsea cables, along with the expansion of other physical infrastructures, such as network towers and 5G sites, secures the future of our country in this increasingly digital world. We now have workloads that call for hyperscale data centers and we are focusing efforts in building capacities to bring hyperscalers into the country,” he said.
The Filipino telco has invested P7 billion in the consortium that is currently building Jupiter.
“With the ecosystem that we are building—the localization of content, combined with the telco infrastructure of PLDT and the other telcos in our Vitro data center, we enable seamless end-user experience in leading-edge proportions,” he said.
Jupiter was supposed to be completed in the third quarter of 2020. Jupiter spans 14,000 kilometers from its Philippine landing station in Daet, Camarines Norte eastward to Japan and westward to the United States.
Consortium members for Jupiter include Amazon, Facebook, SoftBank, PCCW Global and NTT Communications.
“Ultimately, our vision is to help make the Philippines a strategic hyperscaler hub in the region. The completion of the Jupiter Cable System, along with other upcoming new international cable systems, will highlight the Philippines’s potential in the hyperscalers’ roadmap” Panlilio said.
The Jupiter submarine cable will employ at least 400 Gbps wavelength division multiplex transmission technology to connect landing points in Japan, Philippines, and the US which will also boost PLDT’s foray into more digital services including the Internet of Things (IoT) and the roll out of 5G-powered technologies, as well as augment its existing fixed and mobile services.