21 Feb 2022
TM in consortium to build new submarine cable system for Southeast Asia – Middle East – Western Europe
With advanced technologies, open cable system concept and capacity of more than 100Tbps, the latest investment will improve connection with Europe and cater for future digital demand
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) announced that the Company is part of a consortium for the latest Southeast Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 6 (SEA-ME-WE 6) submarine cable system, that connects Malaysia with multiple countries namely Singapore, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Oman, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France.
TM’s participation in the consortium was made official with the signing of the Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) with all consortium members recently. The SEA-ME-WE 6 joins the list of TM’s investments in submarine cable systems including SEA-ME-WE 3, SEA-ME-WE 4, SEA-ME-WE 5 as well as other numerous international cable routes worldwide.
The SEA-ME-WE 6 will provide TM with one of the lowest latency routes between Malaysia and Europe. It will also create an additional layer of network diversity and resilience for the heavily loaded traffic between Asia and Europe. With its advanced technologies, open cable system concept, and a design capacity of more than 100Tbps, this latest investment will undoubtedly provide the consortium members with complete control over their traffic management.
Commenting on the latest investment, TM Group Chief Executive Officer Imri Mokhtar said, “TM has always been at the forefront in making Malaysia the ideal gateway for connecting our country to the world, as well as enabling global technology players to deliver innovative digital services to Malaysia. Submarine cable expansion remains a key element in achieving this goal.
“Our investment in SEA-ME-WE 6 will allow us to address our capacity requirements to cater for increasing future digital demand across Asia and Europe while continuing to provide reliable, diversified and uninterrupted global connectivity solutions to customers. It will also allow TM to support the deployment of hyperscalers’ data centres as well as the future requirements of 5G network in the country.”
“The SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable will land at TM’s new cable landing station in Morib, the latest addition to TM’s existing four (4) international cable landing stations in the country. Its strategic proximity to Klang Valley, which is close to most hyperscalers’ data centres, positions it as a key cable landing site for Malaysia.”
Imri added that the new investment will help realise TM’s aspiration to establish Malaysia as a regional digital hub by facilitating more submarine cables to land in Malaysia. This also demonstrates TM’s commitment to the MyDIGITAL initiative to attract more international submarine cables to land in Malaysia.
Aside from TM, the SEA-ME-WE 6 consortium comprise multiple global players, including Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Bharti Airtel), Dhivehi Raajjeyge Gulhun PLC (Dhiraagu), Djibouti Telecom SA (Djibouti Telecom), Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily), Orange (France), PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel), Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT), Telecom Egypt (TE) and Trans World Associates (TWA).
TM is well experienced in both domestic and global submarine cable system development and investments. With 30 submarine cable systems owned and leased spanning more than 320,000 kilometres around the globe, TM is committed to providing the highest service performance and best quality experience to all its customers worldwide.
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Encouraging QoQ revenue growth across all product lines 3Q2020 QoQ Key Financial and Operational Highlights (All comparisons refer to the second quarter of 2020 (Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) comparison), except as noted): Group Revenue grew 3.8% to RM2.69 billion from RM2.59 billion recorded in 2Q2020. Group Reported Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) increased by 7.0% QoQ to RM456.2 million, from RM426.3 million in 2Q2020. Group Reported Profit After Tax and Non-controlling Interests (PATAMI) rose 19.9% QoQ to RM329.5 million compared to RM274.7 million. The total capital expenditure (capex) for 3Q2020 stood at 14.9% of revenue or RM400.0 million. unifi: Continues convergence leadership with growth in broadband and mobile; highest convergence penetration of TM households at 58%. TM ONE: Strengthened position as the digital enabler for enterprise and public sector customers with connectivity and end-to-end cloud offerings. 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Partnered with Funding Society Malaysia to provide business financing solutions for Micro SMEs (MSMEs) utilising Yellow Pages' digital platform. unifi Mobile extended access to the daily free 1GB Productivity Internet offer to 24 hours, until 31 December 2020, to support Malaysian's connectivity needs in Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO). TM ONE: Strengthened our position as digital enabler for enterprise and public sector customers with connectivity and end-to-end cloud offerings Scaled up the full capabilities of Cloud α (Cloud Alpha) suite of services with full data residency, locality and sovereignty. Appointed as the technology partner of the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) to develop and maintain the Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020 (e-Census) platform. Continue to support state governments and local city councils to establish future-ready smart cities and smart homes via its TM ONE Smart City Solution enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT) and various smart solutions. TM Wholesale: Continues to connect industry players, carriers, over-the-top (OTT) providers and content players in Malaysia and globally Domestic Secured a new contract with a domestic mobile player for cross ocean connectivity, backhaul connectivity solutions and broadband access capacity upgrade. New backhaul connectivity deal with a domestic mobile player for new backhaul services. International Expansion of content delivery services with an Asian-based OTT player. Secured a deal with an Asian-based OTT player for connectivity solution within Asia Pacific, and two (2) new long term data connectivity deals with global carriers. Additional voice business deals with global service providers worldwide. TM Network remained stable throughout CMCO as a result of continuous network optimisation. This is despite traffic utilisation surging between 30% to 50% depending on peak hours, from March 2020 to November 2020 due to more Malaysians working from home. Supporting the nation's digital agenda and addressing the digital divide: Remain committed to increasing connectivity reach via JENDELA and accelerating the digital economy with the recently announced MDEC collaboration. Prospects for the Current Financial Year Ending 31 December 2020 Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Bank Negara Malaysia has revised Malaysia's annual gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to contract between 3.5% to 5.5%[1], against 4.3% growth in 2019. Uncertainty from the most recent wave of the pandemic from October onwards is expected to bring about further revision to these numbers. As the nation faces this adversity, relying even more on the internet and digital connectivity for work and studies, TM continues to serve as an essential service provider, ensuring stable network performance for the entire nation via both our retail and wholesale fronts. The Government's introduction of JENDELA in September 2020 as well as the RM7.4 billion allocations in the recent National Budget to deliver upgraded broadband services for year 2021 and 2022 will serve as a platform to accelerate Malaysia's digital connectivity through wider deployment of mobile, fibre and fixed wireless access. This will pave the way for 5G under the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021–2025). TM is at the forefront in collaborating with other service providers, enabling and delivering JENDELA. We continue to seek opportunities to cater for future demands of connectivity, in line with our proven commitment to maintain business profitability whilst adapting to and exploring new norms and avenues from this dynamic circumstances that the nation faces today. [1] Sourced from Bank Negara Malaysia, 14 August 2020
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