Telekom Malaysia Berhad : MALAYSIA-CAMBODIA-THAILAND (MCT) CABLE SYSTEM REACHES ITS VITAL IMPLEMENTATION STAGE

Kuala Lumpur

13 December 2016

Adopting the latest 100 Gbps technology, MCT is set to connect Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand with the world

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) today announced another important milestone for the development of Malaysia - Cambodia - Thailand (MCT) submarine cable system with the commencement of cable laying works in Cherating, Pahang. The cable laying works from Malaysia to Cambodia and Thailand, spanning 1,300 kilometers is expected to be completed and to be in service by 1st quarter of 2017.

The establishment of this new submarine cable system represents another major step towards enhancing the ASEAN connectivity with the lowest round-trip delay and total diversity access with end-to-end cost and price control.

MCT submarine cable system will be utilising the latest Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) 100Gbps technology with an initial capacity of 1.5Tbps and could be upgraded to support a maximum of 30Tbps. The cable system consists of three (3) fibre pairs which will link all three (3) countries at their respective cable landing stations, namely Cherating in Malaysia, Rayong in Thailand and Sihanoukville in Cambodia.

MCT submarine cable system also marks a significant milestone for Cambodia as it will be Cambodia's first ever cable system. It will allow an open access for Cambodia's licensed operators in each of the participating countries. This leads to greater economic efficiency and reduced tariffs for those in the region, making the submarine cable system ASEAN's latest business catalyst.

TM is a well experienced investor in the domestic, regional and global submarine cable development and investments. With more than 20 submarine cable systems owned and leased spanning more than 200,000 fibre-route miles around the globe, TM provides connectivity via several routes across the Asia-Pacific and the North American regions. Leveraging on its extensive global connectivity, network infrastructure and collective expertise, TM also operates 24 strategic international Points-of-Presence (PoP) located across 16 countries worldwide.

TM is a member of the various submarine cable systems consortiums in the region, which include Asia America Gateway Cable Network (AAG), South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe Cable System 3 (SEA-ME-WE3 - SMW3), SEA-ME-WE4 (SMW4), SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5), Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2), Batam-Rengit Cable System (BRIGHT), Batam-Dumai-Melaka Cable System (BDM), Dumai-Melaka Cable System (DMCS), Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) and TM's very own Cahaya Malaysia. TM also invests in other cable systems such as Japan - US Cable Network (JUSCN), China - US Cable Network (CUSCN) and South Atlantic 3 / Western Africa Submarine Cable / South Africa Far East (SAT-3/WASC/SAFE).