The chairman of Filipino operator Globe Telecom, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, has welcomed the recent launch of the new South-East Asia Japan Cable (SJC), saying the USD400 million pan-Asian cable system will improve the country’s information and communication technology (ICT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) industries. ‘Globe’s participation in the SJC system will help with the overall competitiveness of the Philippines, helping achieve goals of economic stability and position it on a par with the most technologically advanced countries in the world,’ the official said. The operator also has 36.1 million mobile subscribers who will be able to take advantage of SJC, he added, noting: ‘one of the main beneficiaries of this system will be the IT and BPO industry which employs more than 700,000 Filipinos and contributing more than USD25 billion in revenues.’
The SJC cable spans nearly 9,000km and claims to have one of the highest capacities in the world. It went live in June this year. Globe contributed USD65 million to the building of the system, along with other partners such as Brunei International Gateway, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Telecom Global, Donghwa Telecom, Google, KDDI Corp, SingTel, PT Telekom Indonesia, and TOT.