In a statement on Wednesday, April 21, Singapore’s Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation’s (Keppel T&T) said it signed a binding term sheet with Converge ICT Solutions, granting Converge usage rights for one fiber pair on the main trunk of Bifrost Cable System.

Keppel Midgard Holdings (KMH) – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel T&T – and Converge will also jointly develop a branch on the Bifrost Cable System that will land in Davao. Converge will be granted an indefeasible right of use (IRU) on the entire Davao branch.

Converge will invest over P5 billion ($100 million) for the project.

The Bifrost Cable System is expected to be completed in 2024. The cable system will span over 15,000 kilometers, and is the world’s first subsea cable system directly connecting Singapore to the west coast of North America via Indonesia through the Java Sea and Celebes Sea. It will connect Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Guam, and the west coast of North America.

Dennis Uy, CEO of Converge, said of the endeavor, “This is an important milestone not just for Converge but also for the Philippines as we expect to experience faster internet speeds and greater resiliency within our fast-growing fiber network with the completion of this project.”

“Our investment into one full fiber pair, connecting us to Singapore and the west coast of North America, will allow us to independently activate at will up to 15Tbps (Terabits per second) of capacity to either country using the latest technology. Furthermore, our ongoing construction of our National backbone spanning the whole country will allow Converge to distribute this capacity from Davao to any point in the Philippines,” he added.

Keppel T&T CEO Thomas Pang meanwhile said, “Through this partnership, we will be able to accelerate the growth of our connectivity platform, which is in line with Keppel’s Vision 2030, as well as explore synergies with not only Keppel’s data centers, but also Converge’s data center business.” – Rappler.com