Sea-h2x Submarine Cable

[Bonifacia Cramm]

Announcedin May 2022, SEA-H2X is a 5,000km system that will span Hong Kong SAR China, Hainan China, Philippines, Thailand, East Malaysia and Singapore, with options to extend to Vietnam, Cambodia, West Malaysia and Indonesia.

The project is a joint venture lead by a consortium made up of China Mobile International Limited (CMI), China Unicom Global (CUG), Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions (Converge) and PPTEL SEA H2X Sdn. Bhd (PPTEL SEA-H2X), with HMN Technologies assigned to build the cable.

"Based on the above framework, to strengthen the bandwidth and diversity of submarine cables within the region, and to benefit Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries in Southeast Asia, we decided to build SEA-H2X submarine cable."

"SEA-H2X will also be the first international submarine cable connecting Hainan Province, the biggest Special Economic Zone and Pilot Free Trade Zone in China, where China Mobile just set up an international gateway and completed a submarine cable connecting Hong Kong and Zhuhai in 202," he adds.

With a growing number of subsea cable projects either as privately built systems or as being led by or at least involving a hyperscale/OTT partner, SEA-H2X is an exception as a purely carrier led system.

Dr Lin says that this approach was taken because it aligns with their goal to build "an open platform for partners in the region to enhance not only the connections between their countries and hot spots of the region, but also among most countries in the region".

"Different partners will choose different projects based on the concept of design and their own requirements. CMI is very open to providing SEA-H2X capacity to or enter into capacity cooperation with hyperscale/OTTs as well as other customers."

Once operational SEA-H2X will enable a number of use cases and benefits for the region, which Dr Lin includes "high-speed, low-latency, and low-cost data connections for customers" and it will "further accelerate economic development of its members; it will also boost unimpeded trade, communication, financial integration along the route".

Dr Lin expands on the technical configuration of the system explaining that it will consist of "at least 8-fibre pairs between Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, with a design capacity of 160Tbps to meet the growing bandwidth requirement in the region".

"Thanks to the well-arranged connections with other terrestrial and submarine cables systems, SEA-H2X's coverage will not be limited to Southeast Asia but will also be extended to Northeast Asia and then to North Americas, as well as to South Asia, Middle East, Europe and Africa," he adds.

By adopting this landing arrangement, he says will support the concept of open access of the system, which Dr Lin says, "will benefit all partners, and accelerate the development of relevant markets".

"Keeping this in mind, other than waiting for the RFS of SEA-H2X, CMI will keep exploring opportunities to extend the cable system to Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other Southeast Asia countries together with potential partners."

The South-East Asia Hainan-Hongkong Express Cable System (SEA-H2X) is a submarine cable connecting Hong Kong SAR China, Hainan China, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia (Borneo Island) and Singapore, with options to extend to Vietnam, Cambodia, the Malaysia Peninsula and Indonesia.

Unicom has some experience in this area: Khmer Times says the giant Chinese company owns and operates more than 20 land optical fibre cable border stations connecting China with over ten neighbouring countries and regions, reaching more than 20 international land optical fibre cable systems. The firm also has ten submarine cable landing stations globally and more than 60 submarine cable systems.

Cambodian demand for internet services has increased dramatically as its economy bounces back after the Covid-19 pandemic. The country of just over 17 million people has a similar number of SIM internet users, more than 310,000 fixed internet users, 38 ISPs, and five land and submarine fibre infrastructure operators. There are said to be over 640 kilometres of submarine cable in Cambodian waters.

This is not the first cable venture involving Hong Kong and Cambodia. Among a number of others is the SEA-H2X joint venture, of which Unicom is a part. Announced in May 2022, this is a 5,000 kilometre system that will span Hong Kong, Hainan, the Philippines, Thailand, East Malaysia and Singapore, with options to extend to Vietnam, Cambodia, West Malaysia and Indonesia. The SEA-H2X cable system is targeted to be ready for service in 2024.

China Mobile International Limited, China Unicom Global, Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions and PPTEL SEA H2X are partnering to construct and operate SEA-H2X, a new submarine cable system that will connect Hong Kong SAR China, Hainan China, the Philippines, Thailand, East Malaysia and Singapore, with options to extend to Vietnam, Cambodia, West Malaysia and Indonesia.

They have appointed HMN Technologies, a provider of turnkey submarine network solutions, to undertake the design, manufacturing and deployment of the system in a fully funded project that, the partners say, will greatly enhance intra-Asian connectivity.

At approximately 5,000 kilometres in length, the SEA-H2X cable will consist of at least eight fibre 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.

Converge ICT Solutions Inc. and its partners are on track to activate a 5,000-kilometer submarine cable system linking the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, East Malaysia and Singapore by 2024.

The SEA-H2X cable, which will comprise at least 8-fiber pairs between Hong Kong and Singapore, has a design capacity of 160 terabits per second to address the increasing bandwidth requirement in the region.

Recently, Romero told reporters their interest to invest in additional infrastructures such as undersea cable systems and data centers in order to accommodate the growing needs for connectivity of its customers.

This year, Converge earmarked P26 billion to P28 billion in capital expenditures this year to expand its network and deploy additional fiber ports. This is higher compared to P25.2 billion spent last year.

The allocated spending is seen to generate 50-percent revenue growth, 55-percent earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization margin and 20-percent return on invested capital for the company.

KUCHING, May 12: A 5,000km new submarine internet cable system linking Hong Kong, Hainan China, Philippines, Thailand, East Malaysia (with landing into Sarawak) and Singapore, with options to extend to Vietnam, Cambodia, West Malaysia and Indonesia, will be constructed to meet rising demand for connectivity and speed across multiple regions, and in preparation for the coming 5G era.

Dubbed the South East Asia Hainan-Hong Kong Express Cable System (SEA-H2X), it will consist of at least eight fiber pairs between Hong Kong and Singapore, with a design capacity of 160 terabits per second.

The SEA-H2X consortium comprising Sarawak-based international telecommunication infrastructure provider PP Telecommunication (PPTEL) through its subsidiary PPTEL SEA H2X Sdn Bhd, China Mobile International Limited (CMI), China Unicom Global (CUG), and Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc (Converged) from the Philippines announced this in reaffirming their partnership to construct and operate the new submarine cable system today.

According to a media release, the parties to the SEA-H2X Project have appointed HMN Technologies Co Limited, an advanced provider of innovative, reliable and flexible turnkey submarine network solutions on a global scale, to build the cable in a fully funded project that will greatly enhance intra-Asian connectivity.

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.

GUG chairman and president Dr Meng Shusen, on the other hand, emphasised that the submarine cable is irreplaceable in building robust, secure and accessible global network connections in the digital era.

China Mobile International Limited, China Unicom Global, and Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions Inc. have all reaffirmed their partnership to construct and operate the South-East Asia Hainan - Hong Kong Express Cable System (SEA-H2X).

At approximately 5,000 kilometres in length, the cable will consist of at least 8-fibre pairs between Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, with a design capacity of 160 terabits per second. The company says this is to help meet the growing bandwidth requirement in the region.

The implementation will be helmed by HMN Tech, who will undertake the design, manufacturing and deployment of the system. State-of-the-art optical submarine transmission equipment will be used for the project.

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 fibre 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," he says.

"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."

"We are committed to developing innovative and reliable technologies, and to utilising 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."

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