Facebook, Telkom Indonesia to Develop 15,000Km Subsea Cable

JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) – American-based social media platform, Facebook Inc., (NASDAQ: FB), PT Telkom Indonesia Tbk (IDX: TLKM), and Keppel Corp. Ltd., has entered into a joint build a 15,000-kilometer high capacity subsea cable system from Singapore to West Coast of North America, said the contractor on Monday (03/29).

Subsidiary of Facebook, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), a subsidiary of Telkom, Keppel Midgard Holdings Pte. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Ltd., will jointly own and develop a multiple fibre paired, high capacity submarine cable system that directly connects Southeast Asia to North America through the Java Sea and Celebes Sea.

This project is part of Keppel’ Vision 2030 to develop and broaden connectivity platform by building a new adjacent and complementary business to its data centre business. Earlier, the company together with its joint build partners, entered into a supply contract with Alcatel Submarine Networks for the supply and installation of the Bifrost Cable System and is expected to be completed in 2024 with total costs around US$350 million.

Next steps, the units of the three companies will jointly own and develop the Bifrost Cable System connecting Singapore to the west coast of North America via Indonesia, the Philippines and Guam. When completed in 2024, the system will be the largest-capacity high-speed transmission cable across the Pacific Ocean, they said.

Telkom plans to spend around Rp35.9 trillion (US$2.49 billion) in this year to strengthen the network, infrastructure and digital segment. The capital spending amount was 25 percent of this year’ revenues target of Rp143.94 trillion. This year, the company will focus to develop cloud services platform services along with smart platform services.

In Singapore and Hong Kong, Telkom owns four data centers under Telin. In 2017, the unit has acquired 70 percent shares of TS Global Network Sdn Bhd, Malaysia’ dominant provider of satellite communications service, and having affiliated companies in Brunei and Myanmar.

The state-owned telco operator also built Telin Singapore Data Center and Telecommunication Hub located in Singapore. The data center built on an area of ​​8,000 square meters and have been operated in the third quarter of 2016. Currently there are seven consolidated subsidiaries under Teling, namely Telin Singapore, Telin Hongkong, Telin Timor Leste, Telin Australia, Telin USA, Telin Malaysia, and TS Global Network.

Telkom managed six businesses portfolios such as mobile, fixed line, wholesale & international, network infrastructure, enterprise digital, and consumer digital. The government owned 52.09 percent of Telkom shares while the remaining 47.91 percent shares belong to public. The shares are traded on the Indonesian Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange, with code TLM.

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