By Tham Yuen-C

ONE of the 'highways' that bring Internet traffic into and out of Singapore will be widened, as Pacnet upgrades its submarine cable system in the region.

The telecommunications service provider will spend US$50 million (S$69.9 million) to US$60 million in the largest network capacity upgrade of its EAC-C2C undersea cable system. It covers China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan.

When completed, the 36,800km cable system will up its capacity to 3.6 terabits per second (Tbps). That is 50 per cent more than its current scope.

The Singapore-to-Hong Kong cables, one of the key routes in the system, will get the bulk of the upgrade worth US$25 million to US$30 million. This will up capacity on the route to 2.5Tbps, which accounts for about 69 per cent of the network's total capacity.

Increased bandwidth will boost Singapore's push to become a digital hub as digital data can be transmitted more quickly, said Bill Barney, chief executive officer of Pacnet.

Undersea fibre optic cables carry the bulk of Internet and telecommunications traffic between countries.

With the upgrade, Internet traffic which travels into and out of Singapore via the EAC-C2C network will have wider 'highways' to travel on. This means faster speeds for Pacnet's customers here, which include banks, small and medium-sized businesses and telcos.

It will also mean greater Internet connectivity for Singapore's high-speed national broadband network which will roll out next year.

'The national broadband network will deliver much faster access speeds than what is available today,' said To Chee Eng, a research vice-president with IT research firm Gartner.

'For users to enjoy its full benefits, the broadband providers will need to deploy five to 10 times more international bandwidth to deliver true broadband experience.'

Currently, the submarine cable systems that have a landing in Singapore can handle a load of up to 48Tbps.

Pacnet's upgrade will open up capacity dramatically for Singapore, said Chee Eng, who tracks network services in Asia-Pacific. It could also bring down bandwidth prices.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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