TM, Time signs deal to jointly develop submarine cable system

PETALING JAYA: Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) has signed a construction and maintenance agreement with TIME dotCom Bhd (Time) for the development and construction of a submarine cable system, called “Sistem Kabel Rakyat 1 Malaysia” (SKR1M) that will link Peninsular Malaysia with Sabah and Sarawak.
Under the 20-year agreement, TM and Time’s unit, TT dotcom Sdn Bhd (TTdC), will be working hand-in-hand to provide, construct, implement and manage SKR1M.
Both companies will operate and maintain the SKR1M network for the lifetime of the cable system including funding all repairs.
The establishment of this submarine cable system is part of the government’s initiatives to increase the capacity of high-speed broadband.
SKR1M will be using the latest 100Gbps wavelength technology with initial capacity of 4 terabit per second (Tbps) and upgradeable to a minimum of 12.8Tbps. It is a repeatered two fibre pair cable system with an estimated total length of 3,500km.
TM executive vice president, global & wholesale, Rozaimy Abd Rahman said the development of SKR1M is in line with the efforts to replace TM’s aging Malaysian domestic submarine cable system (MDSCS), which has been in service since 1995.
“Currently, MDSCS is already carrying 400Gbps, slightly over 10% of the new SKR1M initial equipage and is facing technological obsolescence, thus limiting its capability to support the growing domestic capacity demand,” he said.
SKR1M is expected to start carrying commercial traffic by mid-2017.