SINGAPORE LAUNCHES UNDERSEA CABLE SYSTEM

SINGAPORE, Dec 8 (Bernama) -– Singapore Tuesday officially launched its
first undersea cable system, the Asia-America Gateway (AAG), that links the
city-state directly to the US.

The new infrastructure would reinforce Singapore’s status as a reliable and
trusted location in hosting and transmitting mission-critical data, according
the island republic’s Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Manpower Lee
Yi Shyan.

The 20,000-km long cable system built with a 19-member consortium including
Singapore’s telecommunication operator Starhub at the cost of US$500 million
will be ready for service in January 2010.

Speaking at the launch at a hotel here, the minister said by providing more
international bandwidths, AAG would help meet rising demand for contents-rich
transmission while keeping cost of transmission competitive.

“These in turn enhance Singapore’s attractiveness for regional and global IT
and media companies to be based here,” he said.

Lee also said the new cable system, which carries a bandwidth of 1.92
Terabits per second, would help grow vibrantly Singapore’s information,
communication and media industry as its connectivity with the major world
centres would be much stronger.

-– BERNAMA