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XL, Telkom begin work on Facebook-Google undersea data cables
Facebook and Google undersea data cable project linking North America and the Asia-Pacific region is under way. The project, dubbed Echo, is built in collaboration with Indonesian telecommunication company PT XL Axiata.
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A picture taken on March 1, 2016 shows the very high speed submarine cable "SEA-ME-WE 5" linking Singapore to France, during its installation on March 1, 2016 in La Seyne-sur-Mer, southern France. With four optical fibers and 20,000 kilometers long, the cable connects 17 different countries. (AFP/Boris Horvat)
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op telecommunication firms PT XL Axiata and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) have begun work on the Indonesian sections of Facebook’s and Google’s two undersea data cable projects dubbed Echo and Bifrost, which are the first to connect the main parts of Indonesia to the United States.
An XL Axiata representative said the privately owned telco had begun constructing Echo’s landing station in Karawang beach, West Java, while a Telkom representative said the state-owned telco was preparing to conduct an undersea route survey in the third quarter of this year.
XL Axiata corporate communications general manager Tri Wahyuningsih Harlianti told The Jakarta Post on Aug. 23 that the company would develop the cable in the route and zone recommended by the Indonesian government, and was conducting “intensive coordination and communication” to secure the necessary permits for the Echo project.
Echo is progressing as planned, according to Tri. Reuters previously reported the project should be completed by 2023.
“This project reduces our dependence on global networks for internet and data access, which has only been available via Singapore and Hong Kong all this time, and contributes to the digital economic growth of citizens in remote areas and in eastern Indonesia,” Tri said.
Multinational tech giant Facebook announced on March 28 plans to build the Echo and Bifrost undersea cables systems that would connect the US with certain Asia Pacific countries in enhancing trans-Pacific internet speed, capacity and reliability. Google separately announced on March 29 that it would invest in the Echo project.
Partly due to limited network infrastructure, Indonesia ranked 57th out of 100 countries studied in the 2020 Inclusive Internet Index produced annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and commissioned by Facebook.
