CAT Telecom is partnering with members of the Asia Direct Cable Consortium (ADC) to build a 9,400-kilometre international submarine cable to serve global content providers in Digital Park Thailand and provide enhanced technologies and 5G services in Southeast Asia.
The ADC cable is expected to be completed in 2022.
Col Sanpachai Huvanandana, president of CAT, announced ADC, of which it is a member, is building the cable connecting China (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong province), Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The consortium selected NEC Corporation to construct the 9,400km cable system.
The cable system will be the main project to enhance CAT's international telecom networks that support growing internet usage in Thailand.
The cable system should increase the capacity of telecom networks to be sufficient, stable and diverse, to serve the growing trends of global communication and connectivity in Asean, said Col Sanpachai.
"The ADC cable system will contribute to content providers' businesses in the Digital Park Thailand area and enhance advanced technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence [AI], cloud services, Internet of Things [IoT], smart cities and big data," he said.
The stability of the ADC's advanced submarine fibre-optic cable system will make the connection between countries smoother and more efficient, which will drive business growth in Asia and meet the growing demands of the digital market, Col Sanpachai said.
The cable will feature multiple pairs of high-capacity optical fibres and is designed to carry more than 140 terabits per second of traffic, enabling quick transmission of data in the region. ADC's high capacity allows it to support bandwidth-intensive applications that are driven by advancements in 5G, cloud services, IoT and AI.