High-speed, ‘safer’ undersea cable links PH, other Asian countries

A new high-speed undersea data cable connects Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. The 7,800km Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE) transfers data via an optical fibre system at 40 gigabits per second — equivalent to downloading a high-resolution DVD in about two seconds — and three milliseconds faster than any other cable between Singapore and Tokyo. These are two of region’s busiest sites for financial trades and profit or loss can come down to a matter of beating the competition by a fraction of a second. The route for the new cable was chosen to be as straight as possible, reducing the time to get information from one end to the other to 65 milliseconds. Problems from the powerful earthquake that hit Japan in March 2011, and the December 2006 earthquake off the south-west coast of Taiwan that broke several cables and disrupting telecommunications in Asian countries, influenced where the new cable was laid. The area around Taiwan, where earthquakes are common, were avoided and the route near the Philippines makes the cable very safe and reliable. Involved are Japan’s NTT, Philippines’ PLDT, Singapore’s StarHub, and Telekom Malaysia.

Read more on BBC.