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Telecommunications companies PLDT Inc., Globe Telecom Inc. and Converge ICT Solutions Inc. plan to jointly invest about $500 million to build a nationwide domestic submarine cable network, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said.
DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said the project would establish an extensive undersea fiber optic network stretching from Batanes in the north, looping around Palawan and linking islands across the Visayas and Mindanao.
The network aims to transform the country’s digital infrastructure by connecting major islands through high-capacity fiber optic links.
Aguda said the proposal has already been presented to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to discuss implementation plans and coordination among participating agencies.
He said the government is organizing an inter-agency collaboration involving six departments, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of National Defense, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Energy and Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Aguda said submarine cable deployment offers a faster and more efficient alternative to traditional land-based fiber deployment, which often requires extensive trenching and excavation.
“By utilizing submarine cables, the consortium can accelerate the country’s fiberization efforts,” Aguda said.
He said the fiber optic cables are designed to support distributed acoustic sensing technology, enabling the network to detect seismic activity associated with earthquakes and tsunamis in real time.
Aguda said the same technology can also identify vibrations generated by vessels passing above the cables, providing data that could support maritime domain awareness and national security operations.
He said the domestic submarine cable network will interconnect all domestic landing stations with 14 international points of presence, strengthening the country’s connectivity to global internet gateways while improving network resiliency and redundancy.
Aguda said if approved, the consortium is targeting completion within 24 months.
He said the network, once fully operational, is expected to eliminate many of the country’s longstanding connectivity bottlenecks.
“By 2028, internet connectivity challenges across the archipelago will be substantially reduced,” Aguda said.
— Darwin G. Amojelar
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