TIME part of consortium to build and maintain submarine cable

by **Cals** Thu 17 Apr 2014, 01:05

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Levina Lim of theedgemalaysia.com

Wednesday, 16 April 2014 09:58

KUALA LUMPUR: TIME dotCom Bhd, the country’s second-largest fixed-line telecommunications provider, is part of the consortium that will construct and maintain a 25,000km submarine cable system linking Asia and Europe via the Middle East.
“Together with 16 international service providers, TIME will construct and maintain the AAE-1 submarine cable system, supporting burgeoning trade and economic linkages among the three continents,” said TIME in a statement yesterday.
Construction of the cable system is expected to commence in the second quarter of this year. TIME’s investment will see the company securing 1.88 Terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity in AAE-1 upon its targeted completion in 2016.
“This is a significant component of our global expansion plans. Our global network will span Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Japan and the US,” said TIME chief executive officer Afzal Abdul Rahim.
The proposed cable system connects Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece and France.
TIME will act as a landing party for the AAE-1 system in Malaysia. Each consortium member is only liable for its portion and not jointly liable for other consortium members’ portions.
“Management and decision making on all matters relating to the cable system of the consortium is via a management committee and sub-committees of which TIME is a member,” said TIME in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
“Our investment in AAE-1 is strategic for a number of reasons. It demonstrates our ongoing commitment towards improving connectivity between Malaysia and the rest of the world, and adds further resilience to our global networks,” said Afzal.
TIME’s investment in AAE-1 is expected to be funded by internal funds and borrowings, if required. The company expects its participation in AAE-1 to contribute positively to the group’s earnings.
TIME’s existing submarine cable investments include a stake in the highly sought after Unity Cable System that connects Japan and the US, and the Asia-Pacific Gateway — that links Malaysia to South Korea and Japan — which is expected to be completed next year.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 16, 2014.