| Lyna Mohamad |
AIMED at augmenting Brunei’s efforts to become a regional communication hub and boosting its development in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), another international cable link has reached the country’s shore.
The 51.795-kilometre submarine fibre optic cable linking Labuan island to Brunei Darussalam landed in Tungku.
Brunei International Gateway Sdn Bhd (BIG) held a ceremony yesterday to mark the official landing of the Labuan-Brunei Cable (LBC) in Brunei Darussalam, which was attended by Haji Khairuddin bin Haji Abdul Hamid, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Investment) at the Ministry of Finance, as guest of honour.
Haji Khairuddin also witnessed and participated in the ceremonial ‘pulling’ of the 4th international cable into Brunei.
Stephen Stretch, Chief Executive Officer of BIG in his welcoming note said that to date, three operational international cable systems have landed in Brunei Darussalam, namely Asia America Gateway (AAG), South-East Asia Japan Cable (SJC) and Southeast Asia Middle East Western Europe 3 (Sea-Me-We-3 Cabe System- SMW3).
“With Labuan-Brunei Cable being the 4th international cable into Brunei Darussalam, this would boost BIG’s contribution towards Brunei’s Vision 2035 for the Sultanate to become a communication hub for Borneo as well help Brunei’s ICT development,” he added.
At the ceremony, Common Tower Technology Sdn Bhd (CTTSB), one of the largest Malaysian telecommunication companies from Sabah and the owner of LBC, was represented by its CEO Dr Mahadi Harris bin Datuk Haji Murshidi; CEO of DST, Haji Suhaimi bin Haji Hussain; and Director of CTTSB Dr Haji Minggu bin Haji Jumaan were also present.
Haji Khairuddin bin Haji Abdul Hamid (2nd R), Deputy Permanent Secretary (Investment) at the Ministry of Finance, in a group photo with other senior officials from all parties involved. – LYNA MOHAMAD
LBC caters to Sabah’s traffic needs for international capacity through Brunei Darussalam and currently exists as the only gateway in Borneo with international submarine cable systems namely AAG, SJC and SMW3.
LBC will have a positive impact on the telecommunication sectors as well as the economies of both East Malaysia and Brunei, facilitated by the increased domestic and international capacity, alternative routing and lower prices. This would also enable East Malaysia to improve its tele-density, capacity and broadband connectivity.
At the same time, it will create the opportunity to attract direct foreign investments to both countries while facilitating growth in local government, private sectors and companies.
The cable’s landing points are Kiamsam, Labuan (Federal Territory) and Tungku (Brunei).
BIG is a joint venture company between Brooketon Sdn Bhd and telecommunication providers Telekom Brunei Berhad (TelBru) and DST International (B) Sdn Bhd. Since its establishment in 2009, BIG has been managing the country’s investment and operation of two undersea cabling systems.
The first such cable is the AAG, a 20,000-km high-bandwidth fibre optic submarine cable system linking Southeast Asia with the US via Hawaii and Guam, with tributaries into Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.
BIG is also part of the consortium that owns and operates the South-East Asia Japan Cable (SJC), which is a submarine cable system inaugurated in 2013.
The 8986-km SJC, with landing stations in Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, China and Hong Kong, comprises six fibre pairs and was upgraded in November 2015 with new 100G DWDM technology to increase its capacity to 31.6 Tbps.
CTTSB is one of the largest independent tower owners and operators in Malaysia, as well as one of the nation’s largest providers of professional site development services to companies in the telecommunications industry.
The company owns, operates and manages 246 communication infrastructure (tower) sites in Sabah following its appointment as the ‘State Backed Company’ to undertake the TIME2 Project in Sabah since 2005.
Today, CTTSB has gone beyond the business of tower infrastructure and now expands its capability, venturing into submarine cable, fibre-optic network, satellite and data-centres. It is the leading technology company in Sabah to first lead this expansion with a vision to empower convergence and innovation.
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