In an effort to deliver secure, reliable, and future-ready connectivity all over the Philippines, telco provider InfiniVAN, Inc. and its Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)-listed parent IPS, Inc. officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) pertaining to maximizing the use of BCDA’s Luzon Bypass Infrastructure (LBI) at the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Tokyo last Sept. 30.
The signing ceremony was attended by Philippine Ambassador to Japan Mylene De Joya Garcia-Albano, BCDA President and CEO Joshua M. Bingcang, IPS President and CEO Koji Miyashita, and InfiniVAN President Shigeki Nakahara.
The LBI is a forward-looking project undertaken by the Philippine Government through the BCDA as an alternative corridor for international submarine cables, bypassing the earthquake-prone Luzon Strait. It consists of two strategically situated submarine cable landing stations (CLS) in San Fernando, La Union and Baler, Aurora, as well as a 240-kilomerer (km) multi-duct fiber optic conduit network connecting the two CLSs.
Prior to the said signing, a three-party framework agreement was signed among the BCDA, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and Meta (formerly Facebook), wherein BCDA underwrote the building the of the LBI for around P1 billion in exchange for Meta – as the initial user – providing the Philippine Government 2 terabits per second (Tbps) of usable bandwidth between the Philippines and the United States on the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) submarine cable system.
Of the 2 Tbps capacity, 1.5Tbps is allocated to the DICT for its e-Gov, Free Public WiFi and other mandates; while 500 Gbps is allocated for the use of the BCDA and distribution of the same to locators in the different ecozones it manages.
Due to issues surrounding the PLCN, however, the only the CLS in Baler and a portion of the conduit network are currently in use.
Broader connectivity
By partnering with BCDA, InfiniVAN and IPS intend to support the maximization of the use of the LBI and BCDA’s existing infrastructure projects, through lease, sharing, joint use or similar arrangements, as alternative to building similar and capital extensive infrastructure from scratch.
InfiniVAN also plans to leverage its nationwide digital infrastructure—including submarine, aerial, and underground terrestrial fiber—to support this collaboration.
“InfiniVAN will strive to make effective use of this facility to contribute to improving the reliability and resilience of the domestic network and to make the Philippines one of Asia’s major international communication hubs in the future,” Mr. Nakahara said following the signing of the memorandum.
“Aside from our unsolicited proposal for the use of the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure facilities, we are also participating in the ongoing bid for the deployment of passive fiber optic network infrastructure facilities in New Clark City,” he added
IPS’s participation in the recently announced CANDLE submarine cable project, an 8,000-km system of 24-fiber-pair cables connecting six key locations in Asia, and InfiniVAN’s designation to land one of its branches in Baler have opened up possibilities for using portions of the LBI to connect InfiniVAN’s backhaul facilities to telco hubs in the National Capital Region as well as to other submarine cable systems landing in other parts of the country.
IPS’s existing international network also provides much needed redundancy to PLCN capacities that BCDA and DICT depend on.
“The strategic role that a pair of submarine cable landing stations and the interconnecting backbone for terrestrial connectivity aligns perfectly with our vision of expanding networks not only across the Philippines but also internationally,” Mr. Miyashita of IPS said.
“This undertaking reflects our strong commitment to supporting the Philippines’ ongoing digital transformation. We firmly believe that the Philippines is destined to be a major connectivity hub in the Asia-Pacific region—a role it rightly deserves,” he added.
Filling in gaps
Mr. Bingcang of BCDA added that InfiniVAN is also looking to fill the gap for much-needed last-mile connectivity in New Clark City (NCC), which is benchmarked to be equipped with the best ICT infrastructure facilities in the region
“We have benchmarked the vision for New Clark City in terms of ICT connectivity with the best in the region. We want to have the fastest internet connection, as fast as Japan and Singapore, at a much lower cost,” Mr. Bingcang shared.
Mr. Bingcang also noted the partnership with InfiniVAN and IPS heightens NCC’s potential to attract more investments from foreign companies.
“It’s high time that we provide that [last-mile] service in New Clark City. Then, it will be much easier now for us also to attract other foreign companies to do jobs in the Philippines,” he stressed.
“This partnership with InfiniVAN is a testament that we have that vote of confidence for foreign companies to do business in the Philippines, particularly in New Clark City,” he added.
The initiative is also expected to accelerate the rollout of the National Broadband Plan, support government digital services, and open opportunities for economic growth in business centers and economic zones across the country.
Besides InfiniVAN and IPS, BCDA also inked memoranda of understanding in Tokyo with Kanadevia Corp. for the prospect of redeveloping the Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill and the Development of Waste-to-Energy Facility in NCC and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for collaborative advancement of energy transition in the Philippines.
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