Telekom Malaysia has formed a consortium to build a new subsea cable connecting Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand.
The operator has teamed up with Thailand's Symphony Communication and Cambodia's Telcotech to develop the MCT cable system.
The MCT will be a 1,300km system that will link Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand, while providing further access to Indochina countries including Myanmar and Vietnam via terrestrial links.
It will have a design capacity of over 30Tbps, and is expected to be ready for service by the end of next year.
Huawei Marine Networks has won the contract to build the MCT cable. The vendor signed the contract for the project yesterday.
Announcing the project, Telekom Malaysia said that international telcos with interests in the Indochina region will be able to use the cable to improve connectivity to the area. These companies will also be able to take advantage of Telekom Malaysia's global connectivity for forward links.
The operator currently owns 14 in-service subsea cable systems spanning over 100,000 fiber-route miles, and has memberships in various subsea cable consortia.
“The MCT cable system will definitely play an important role to the business growth of the ASEAN region especially in the telecommunication sector,” Telekom Malaysia group CFO Datuk Bazlan Osman said.
“It will become the catalyst for other growing industries in Indochina that requires telecommunications infrastructure, as communication is an essential element for current businesses in this era.”