Globe Telecom launches TGN-IA cable system

MANILA, Philippines - “Businesses need to evolve and move with changing environments in order to thrive and flourish,” said Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman of Globe Telecom, at the launching of the TGN-Intra Asia cable system this week.

“It is imperative to remain relevant with consumer trends, constantly improve performance and efficiency, and move in step with the latest technologies. For these reasons, the search for new solutions to bring businesses to the next level should be at the core of every telecom company’s agenda,” he said.

With the Tata Global Network-Intra Asia cable system (TGN-IA), Globe aims to give its customers faster connectivity, reliable and uninterrupted connections and real-time access to information.

Globe opens more international capacity and better connectivity to businesses in the Philippines with its link to the TGN-IA, which is owned and operated by Tata Communications.

The Philippines-Japan segment of the TGN-Intra Asia cable system, the fourth cable landing station in the country, was completed last December. 

With this development, Globe Business is ready to provide large corporations with an alternative access around Asia and a more direct route to the US offering better connections.

The TGN-IA cable system, when combined with Tata Global Networks TIC and Pacific Cable Systems, will complete Tata Communications’ multi-terabit capability from India to Asia and onwards to the United States.

“The TGN-IA is a 6,700-kilometer, multi-terabit cable system connecting Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan, as well as Vietnam and the Philippines,” said Gerardo Ablaza, Globe president and CEO. 

“It has onward connectivity to the United States via the associated TGN-Pacific cable system. Globe’s initial capacity of five wavelengths (50 Gbps) on TGN-IA would almost double the aggregate capacity of all the major cable systems going into the Philippines today,” he said.

Globe chose to land the TGN-IA cable system in Ballesteros, Cagayan, which is actually far from its other international cable landing stations in Batangas and Cavite. 

“This geographical diversity protects the Philippines from the active seismic areas responsible for the Taiwan earthquake in December 2006, which cut all the submarine cables that serve much of Asia,” Ablaza said.

Globe boasts a total investment of $90 million (or a little over P4 billion), which includes the capacity within the Asia-Pacific systems, the cable landing station, and the fiber backhaul. 

Globe has already built one path of the direct-buried fiber ring that connects the Ballesteros cable landing station to Globe’s POP (point of presence) on Valero street in Makati City.

The other path is currently under construction. This backhaul is a DWDM ring network, currently equipped with four wavelengths, three of which are dedicated to international traffic. Design capacity is 40 wavelengths per fiber pair.

The TGN- Intra Asia cable system is the only direct fiber route between Singapore and Japan offering Asia’s lowest latency with RTD of 63ms. It also provides added redundancy as the cable system is in a separate location, far from all existing international cable landing stations currently in Southern Luzon, and designed to stay away from the seismic area in Taiwan, out of the Ring of Fire.

“Our investment in the system and associated support facilities has significantly increased capacity and added diversity to the country’s international connectivity,” said Gil Genio, head of Globe Business and head of carrier services. 

“Broadband customers, businesses, big or small, and most especially the offshoring and outsourcing industry will certainly benefit from this investment. With the TGN-IA cable system now carrying traffic and serving customers, we move closer to achieving our vision to have the best connected network in the country,” Genio added.

The TGN-IA cable system integrates seamlessly with Tata Communications’ most advanced and largest global network infrastructure, comprising a Tier-1 IP platform with connectivity to more than 200 countries across 400 POPs, and more than one million square feet of data center and co-location facilities, and is a strong complement to existing regional systems.

Globe will also be able to leverage services that are available on the Tata Communications’ global network such as CDN (content delivery networks), MPLS, Ethernet, managed security, among others, for its customers.

Globe’s international private leased circuit, Internet connectivity and even voice services will gain from the TGN-Intra Asia cable system as this provides increased cable diversity and more direct routing to Globe Business.

This also has the ability to provide high-capacity bandwidth ranging from 2Mbps to 10Gbps. Last year, Globe Business doubled its Internet bandwidth and is continuously upgrading it, allowing even faster connectivity and reduced latency time for its business customers.

“As the TGN-IA cable system now begins serving our business customers, we are happy that Globe is now even more capable of meeting their growing telecom needs and providing bandwidth supply that is both resilient and geographically diverse,” Ablaza said. 

“We believe that this in turn significantly improves the competitiveness of the Philippines as a prime destination for business investment,” he added.      – Kathy Moran