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XL Axiata to partner in $170m undersea cable project
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XL Axiata CEO Dian Siswarini checks the readiness of an XL Axiata transmission tower. (XL/Exclusive)
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ublicly listed telecommunications company XL Axiata is partnering with an Australia-based counterpart Vocus Group to lay an undersea cable worth US$170 million.
The telecommunication network for global internet access will be 4,600 kilometers in length and is scheduled to begin operation in the third quarter of 2018.
XL Axiata CEO Dian Siswarini said the cooperation would provide Indonesia with an alternative route for accessing the global network.
Currently, the company only has the Jakarta-Singapore route. "This route is six times larger in [bandwidth] capacity than the current one," she said in Jakarta on Monday.
The project will provide 50 terabyte data capacity when it is inaugurated.
XL Axiata technology director Yessie D. Yosetya said the company aimed for at least half of the company’s data traffic to and from outside Indonesia to be via this new route.
Meanwhile, for Vocus Group, the project is needed to replace the old cable that has been in operation for about 20 years and to accommodate the increasing demand for data to and from Asian countries, said Vocus Group chairman Vaughan Bowen.
"We have increasing demand [for data traffic] to and from Asia," he told The Jakarta Post.
Communications and information Minister Rudiantara, who attended the event, welcomed the project.
"We [in Indonesia] tend to download rather than upload, so it means our data traffic from outside the country is bigger,” he said, adding that downloads were four times greater than uploads. (srs/bbn)
