China's Huawei to build undersea cable in SE Asia

PHNOM PENH -- China's Huawei Marine Networks, a global submarine network provider, said on Monday that it won a bid to build the Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) undersea cable system.

Telekom Malaysia Berhad, Cambodia's Telcotech and Symphony Communication of Thailand are the members of the consortium.

Spanning approximately 1,300 km, the MCT cable system will provide connectivity between Cherating in Malaysia and Rayong in Thailand with a branching unit connecting from the main trunk into Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Huawei said in a statement, adding that access to neighboring counties such as Laos and Myanmar will be achieved through further connection to terrestrial based networks.

"We're honored to partner with our customers and start working on the development and construction of the MCT optical superhighway to deliver state-of-the-art infrastructure which will contribute to the economic growth and development of the Indochina region," said Ma Yanfeng, vice president of Huawei Marine Networks.

The MCT cable system adopts the latest 100G technology with a total design capacity exceeding 30 Tbps. The system will be commissioned and ready for commercial service by the end of 2016.

According to a statement released by Telcotech on Monday, the project, estimated to cost some 70 million U.S. dollars, will be the first time for Cambodia to be connected to the region by a submarine cable.