Singaporean telecom operator SingTel announced on January 19 that the company has entered into an agreement with a consortium of telecom operators to jointly build and operator a new undersea cable system, according to a press release by SingTel on January 19, adding that the company has earmarked US$400 million for the project. With an expected total length of 8,300 km, the new system, dubbed SJC (Southeast Asia Japan Cable) - initially connecting Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan - is projected to begin operations by the second quarter of 2010. The SJC system is expected to deliver a bandwidth capacity of 17 Tbps (Terabit per second) and can be further upgraded to 23 Tbps, the highest capacity system ever built so far. Aside from SingTel, the other members of the consortium also include Global Telecom, Google, KDDI, Network i2i, Reliance Globalcom, Telemedia Pacific, and PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International.

 

Meanwhile, SingTel stated that the new system will be integrated with the new Unity cable system funded also by the operator, to begin operations in mid-2010. The consortium also has been in talks over tie-ups with other telecom operators but no names were given.