The consortium behind the Southeast Asia – United States (SEA-US) subsea cable have commenced the construction phase for the project.
The $250 million cable is being built by system suppliers NEC and NEC of America. Construction is expected to be competed in the fourth quarter of next year.
Once complete, SEA-US will be the first subsea cable system directly linking Indonesia with the US. The 15,000km cable will connect to Manado in Indonesia, Davao in Southern Philippines, Piti in Guam, Honolulu in Hawaii and Los Angeles on the continental US.
Built with a design capacity of 100Gbps, the cable has been designed to bypass earthquake-prone areas in East Asia and provide more diversity in the range of connectivity to transpacific networks.
The SEA-US consortium consists of Indonesia's Telin, the Philippines' Globe Telecom and affiliate GTI Corporation, RAM Telecom International, Hawaiian Telecom and Telkom USA.
Syarif Syarial Ahmad, President Director of Telin, stated that the project “is significant as it is one of the biggest milestones for Indonesia’s rapid growth in communications.”
He said that providing a direct route to the US, where most of Indonesia's internet traffic is sourced, will help the operator meet growing traffic demands.