PLDT received provisional authority from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to construct two new cable landing stations in Baler, Aurora, and Digos, Davao for the Apricot cable system, the latest Intra-Asia submarine cable that will boost the Philippines’ connectivity and resiliency.
The Apricot cable system, which is expected to be completed by early 2025, will span 12,000 kilometers and connect the Philippines with Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Guam. It will provide higher speeds, lower latency, and more diverse routes for data traffic in and out of the country, especially to the US and across Asia and the Pacific.
The new cable landing stations in Baler and Digos will face the Pacific side of the Philippines, offering an alternative to the existing landing stations in Batangas, La Union, and Daet that traverse the West Philippine Sea waters. This will enhance PLDT’s international cable network and ensure a higher degree of resilience in case of natural disasters or man-made disruptions.
“The Apricot cable system’s route ensures a significantly higher degree of resilience. When our Baler and Davao cable landing stations are completed, PLDT will have alternate sites facing the Pacific, making it easier to hook up to data offices in the US,” said PLDT and Smart President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio.
The completion of the Apricot cable system by the end of 2025 will further increase PLDT’s total international capacity to more than 140Tbps once fully equipped. This will enable PLDT to provide superior digital services to its consumer and enterprise customers, deliver newer technologies with its 4G and 5G capabilities, and attract hyperscalers and investors to expand their cloud presence in the country.
The PLDT Group continues to support the government’s digitalization efforts, to help drive the growth for a strong digital economy and empower the digital transformation of the country.
As of end-March 2023, PLDT had expanded its total fiber footprint to over 1.1 million kilometers, consisting of over 231,000 kilometers of international fiber and over 874,000 kilometers of domestic fiber.
