China Mobile International Limited (CMI), China Unicom Global (CUG) , Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc. (Converge) and PPTEL SEA H2X Sdn. Bhd (PPTEL SEA-H2X), reaffirmed their partnership to construct and operate the South East Asia Hainan - Hong Kong Express Cable System (SEA-H2X), a new submarine cable system that will connect Hong Kong SAR China, Hainan China, Philippines, Thailand, East Malaysia and Singapore, with options to extend to Vietnam, Cambodia, West Malaysia and Indonesia. The parties to the SEA-H2X Project have appointed HMN Technologies Co., Limited (HMN Tech) to build the cable in a fully funded project which will greatly enhance intra-Asian connectivity. With the Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) and Supply Contract with HMN Tech being effective on March 4, 2022, the parties also announced that the Supply Contract has come into force.
At approximately 5,000 kilometers in length, the SEA-H2X cable will consist of at least 8-fiber pairs between Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, with a design capacity of 160 terabits per second to meet the growing bandwidth requirement in the region. The System is targeted to be ready-for-service in 2024 which help businesses and consumers benefit from increasing digital ties.
Employing state-of-the-art optical submarine transmission equipment, this high-performance submarine cable’s completion will provide the needed additional bandwidth within the region and network diversity. The construction of SEA-H2X will respond to the high broadband (Internet) demand between Hong Kong SAR and Southeast Asia countries by providing needed capacity and faster transmission, and in preparation for the coming 5G era.
The SEA-H2X cable will be implemented by HMN Tech from the design, manufacturing and deployment of the system. Employing an open system model, SEA-H2X has the flexibility to choose best-in-breed Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE) from third-party vendors at a later date. HMN Tech’s advanced Branching Unit (BU) and Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) will benefit SEA-H2X in providing the ultimate flexibility of electrical power and optical fiber switches across multiple locations.
“CMI continues to focus on the digital economy development by expanding our digital infrastructure including cable systems, PoPs and data centers. We have been investing in various submarine cables due to the soaring demand for data usage in the Asia-Pacific region. We are honored to be a partner in SEA-H2X, which connects major cities such as Hong Kong, China and Singapore, along with Hainan, China, linking to locations in the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand in Southeast Asia. The SEA-H2X cable will provide high-speed, low-latency, and low-cost data connections for customers in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) region, to further accelerate economic development of its members. We sincerely hope construction plans for the SEA-H2X submarine cable can be successfully implemented and acted on as soon as possible,” said Dr Li Feng, Chairman and CEO of CMI.
“Submarine cable is irreplaceable in building robust, secure and accessible global network connections in the Digital Era. As an important large-bandwidth submarine system in the region, SEA-H2X will further upgrade connectivity to Hong Kong SAR, Hainan SEZ and Southeast Asia countries, boosting unimpeded trade, communication, financial integration along the route. We are proud to participate in this trans-Asia cable project. China Unicom Global Limited will prove ourselves in providing customers with cloud-network integration, smart, agile, and safe digital products and solutions. We sincerely hope the whole project achieve a well-rounded success.” said Dr. Meng Shusen, Chairman and President of CUG.
“We are pleased to be a partner in this trans-Asia cable that will respond to the booming data traffic between Hong Kong SAR and Southeast Asia. This submarine cable system will boost the connectivity between our two PoPs located in Hong Kong and in Singapore. Further, this will serve as a crucial infrastructure to add diversity and redundancy to our international network. We are truly diversifying our international capacity portfolio as transpacific demand will be served by the Bifrost, and now trans-Asia demand will be served by SEA-H2X,” said Converge CEO and Co-Founder Dennis Anthony Uy.
“PPTEL SEA-H2X is excited to participate in the SEA-H2X consortium, joining our partners in the region with our investment consisting of a trunk fiber pair and a branch into Sarawak, East Malaysia. PPTEL SEA-H2X is transforming the telecoms landscape in Malaysia from our home base in Kuching, where we are launching the first Tier IV Data Centre in the region in Q1 2022, co-located with our new CLS at Santubong. Our strategic location allows us to offer new low latency routings between China and Jakarta, via SEA-H2X and BaSICS (Batam Sarawak Internet Cable System), which is also expected to complete in Q1 2022. With extensive fiber reach throughout Malaysia and Indonesia through our partner XL, we are providing the backbone for the Sarawak government’s Digital Transformation 2030 ambitions both domestically and internationally,” said PPTEL CEO Jonathan Smith.
“It is our honor to provide the advanced turnkey submarine cable solution for SEA-H2X consortium members,” said Mao Shengjiang, CEO of HMN Tech. “We are committed to developing innovative and reliable technologies, and to utilizing them in the critical telecom infrastructures, like SEA-H2X. HMN Tech’s start-of-art technology and expert deployment abilities will contribute to the consortium to build a high-speed, large-capacity and low-latency system fast and successfully and to enhance intra-Asian connectivity.”