| Danial Norjidi |
AN AGREEMENT was signed yesterday between Brunei International Gateway (BIG) Sdn Bhd and Common Tower Technologies Sdn Bhd (CTTSB) to land a new Labuan-Brunei Submarine Cable in Tungku, Brunei.
The signing took place at the Orchid Garden Hotel between BIG CEO John Murray and CTTSB CEO Dr Mahadi Harris-Murshidi.
In a joint press statement, BIG and CTTSB explained that the new Labuan-Brunei Submarine Cable (LBC) will be landed at Tungku in Brunei and Kiamsam, Labuan.
The cable is owned by CTTSB, a wholly owned subsidiary of Warisan Harta Sabah Sdn Bhd, which is the investment arm of the Sabah state government that owns and manages one of the largest network infrastructure facilities in Sabah.
The LBC system involves the construction of a new cable system across the Brunei Bay off the South China Sea as per the current global specifications.
The project is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2016, and its primary aim is to gain access to international Internet gateways and capacity via BIG’s Asia America Gateway (AAG), Southeast Asia Japan Cable System (SJC) and Southeast Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 3 (SMW3), with an option for further upgrades in the future.
CTTSB CEO Dr Mahadi Harris-Murshidi shaking hands with BIG CEO John Murray after signing the agreement. PHOTO: DANIAL NORJIDI
In a joint press statement, BIG and CTTSB said that the initiative will have a positive impact on the telecommunications sector for Brunei and East Malaysia as well as the economies of both countries.
For CTTSB’s part, the project will allow it to establish itself for new emerging services facilitated by the increased domestic and international bandwidth capacity and alternative routing under competitive service level terms. It will also help East Malaysians in improving its tele-density, capacity and broadband connectivity.
Consequently, it will also provide the opportunity to attract foreign direct investments while meeting the increased growth for information and communications services capacity demanded by local government, businesses and the public.
CTTSB CEO Dr Mahadi Harris-Murshidi said that the LBC will allow CTTSB to expand its network to span to other geographies within the region, including strong bases in the key growth markets of Brunei and Malaysia.
“This landing agreement with BIG marks another key milestone in CTTSB’s growth,” he said. “Since CTTSB reached its final investment decision at the end of 2014, we have made remarkable progress in building a formidable footprint – a gateway internationally – with strategic presence in key economic hubs to capture industry demand.”
Speaking at the event, BIG CEO John Murray said, “Telecommunications were first introduced to Brunei Darussalam as early as 1920 with the installation of an international wireless telegraph circuit linking Brunei Darussalam to Labuan, and so it gives me great pleasure almost 100 years later to be talking to you today about our latest link, the Labuan-Brunei Submarine Cable.”
“BIG now runs two international fibre optic submarine cables connecting Brunei to the world: The Asia America Gateway cable which connects Brunei to the USA via Hawaii, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, and the Southeast Asia-Japan cable which links us with Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan.”
“This new cable into Brunei from Labuan will provide a gateway for CTTSB and its customers in Sabah to reach more international destinations and it helps establish Brunei as a communication hub for Southeast Asia,” he added.
Speaking to the Bulletin in an interview, Murray highlighted, “We were approached by CTTSB to do it. I think from BIG’s perspective, the possibility of having another cable come into Brunei makes Brunei a more attractive country for investment.”
He noted that Singapore, in comparison, has 20 cables. “As more cables come in, it helps to build up Brunei as a communication hub, especially for Borneo.”
“As you do that, it makes it a more attractive place for inward investment,” he said, before adding, “I do think that having more cables makes it a more attractive place to invest in.
He highlighted that Brunei has got a lot of international communication links. “This will be the fourth one coming in. It gives us connectivity up to Sabah and Sarawak.”
Murray also shared that one of the main drivers for CTTSB is that it enables them to sell to the mobile carriers an alternative path out of Borneo.
On how it will affect Brunei, he said, “I think with the formation of a direct link, it allows the telecommunications carriers here to work more easily with those in Sabah and Sarawak for that kind of local traffic.”
He assured that BIG has the excess capacity, and as such Bruneian users will not be affected negatively at all.
“For BIG, a lot of our sales are overseas, selling that capacity to other carriers,” he shared. “The benefit for BIG is that they have a lot of capacity leaving Brunei, and we have a very small market in Brunei for it. So when I get people from places such as Sabah and Sarawak, I have a chance to get more money back from the cables and thus a better return on the investment made on those cables.”
Established in 2009, BIG is a member of the consortium for the Asia-America Gateway Cable System as well as the Southeast Asia Japan Cable System.
BIG currently provides international telecommunication carriers and digital content providers with wholesale bandwidth through our fibre optic submarine cable systems which offer extended connectivity and network diversity between the commercial centres of Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States.
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