KT and Savills Korea Establish 9,000km Submarine Optical Cable Connecting 6 Countries

Korea-Japan-Taiwan-Indonesia-Philippines-Singapore

KT will jointly build a new submarine optical cable in the Asia-Pacific region with Savills Korea. Soo-jung Shin, Head of KT Enterprise Division (left), and Soo-jung Lee, CEO of Savills Korea, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing an MOU on the 7th at the KT Songpa Building in Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by KT

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] KT announced on the 7th that it will build a 9,000 km long submarine optical cable in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in partnership with Savills Korea.

On the same day, KT and Savills Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for joint project promotion at the KT Songpa building in Songpa-gu, Seoul. The detailed business scope includes ▲attracting global cloud service providers and telecom operators ▲construction of submarine cables ▲joint operation and management after completion.

The two companies will build and operate a 9,000 km long submarine optical cable connecting six major APAC countries: Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

KT will perform design, construction, and operation consulting, serving as a strategic investor. Savills Korea, the Korean branch of the global integrated real estate services company Savills, will be responsible for asset management including business planning, execution, investor attraction, contracts, and permits.

Submarine optical cables are key infrastructure for communication between continents and countries separated by the sea. Ninety percent of data transmitted between countries passes through submarine optical cables. KT owns the widest submarine cable infrastructure in Korea, including the Asia-Pacific Gateway (APG) and the New Cross Pacific (NCP) cable systems.

Lee Soo-jung, CEO of Savills Korea, said, “The MOU with KT on this submarine cable project is the result of our continuous efforts to expand our real estate service domain,” adding, “We expect synergy between Savills Korea’s global network and KT’s outstanding data communication technology.”

Shin Soo-jung, head of KT’s Enterprise Division, said, “As demand for cloud services and over-the-top (OTT) online video services based on digital transformation (DX) expands not only domestically but across Asia, the submarine cable market will grow further,” and added, “We will jointly build the Asia submarine optical cable with Savills and continue to strengthen our market leadership in submarine optical cables and international data transmission.”