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Singaporean operator StarHub has joined the consortium developing the Asia-Pacific Gateway (APG) undersea cable.

The APG cable will span 8,000 kilometers and link Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan, Mainland China, Japan and Korea. A StarHub spokesperson told TelecomAsia.net the project is scheduled for completion in 2011.

StarHub CEO Tan Tong Hai said the company decided to join the consortium "in anticipation of the expected exponential growth in bandwidth demand, especially with Singapore\'s Next-Gen National Broadband Network in place within the next few years."

The APG consortium also consists of Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), China Telecom, China Unicom, KT (Korea), NTT Comm (Japan), PLDT (the Philippines), Telekom Malaysia and VNPT (Vietnam). These companies signed a memorandum of understanding in May.