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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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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.
Facebook also announced last year plans with PT Alita Praya Mitra to lay 3,000 km of fiber-optic cables in Java, Bali, Kalimantan and Sulawesi islands to provide internet access to some 10 million users.
Read also: Facebook, Google unveil Asia-Pacific data cable plans
The 16,000-kilometer-long Echo cable links Singapore to California, but developers plan to add three branches that connect the main trunk to Piti and Agat in Guam and Tanjung Pakis, West Java, according to a project filing with the US Federal Communications Commission dated April 23.
Similarly, the 15,000 kilometer-long Bifrost cable links Singapore to the US, with branches to Indonesia, the Philippines and Guam. The cable is being built in partnership with Singaporean conglomerate Keppel and Telkom subsidiary PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin).
Telin president director Budi Satria Dharma Purba told the Post that the company would build the Bifrost’s landing station in Manado, North Sulawesi, which is a popular location for landing stations in Indonesia besides Batam.
Manado hosts a landing station for the Southeast Asia-United States (SEA-US) cable system, which is an earlier system connecting Indonesia to the US. Meanwhile, Batam, Riau Islands, hosts the landing stations for the Batam Singapore Cable System (BSCS) and the Thailand Indonesia Singapore (TIS) system. Telin is involved in all three systems.
Read also: Indonesia ranks 57th in Inclusive Internet Index, among the lowest in the world
Should all permits be obtained in time, construction of Bifrost would begin in 2022, added Budi. Telkomsel wrote in a previous joint statement with Keppel that Bifrost should be completed by 2024.
“With the international gateway in Manado, data traffic in eastern Indonesia can be better and more efficient in terms of costs as [eastern Indonesia] would directly connect to content in Hong Kong and the US, without going through Batam,” he said in a written response on Aug. 25.
Budi went on to say that the main challenges to developing undersea cables, including the Bifrost, were related to meeting the regulatory requirements of each country along the cable’s route.
The Bifrost project, he continued, would help boost Telin’s business revenue, 80 percent of which came from outside Indonesia, through proceeds of operating international, undersea data cables, including the SEA-US, TIS and BSCS.
“Bifrost completes Telkom Group’s global infrastructure [and is set] to make Indonesia a global digital hub,” he said.
Google and Facebook declined to comment on the projects’ updates.
