PCCW Global lands new Asia Africa Europe-1 cable system in Hong Kong

HKT (SEHK: 6823) – HONG KONG, July 13, 2017

PCCW Global, the international operating division of HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider, today announced the landing of the high-capacity Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1) cable in Hong Kong.

AAE-1 is the world’s largest submarine cable in more than a decade and was built by a consortium of 19 leading international service providers including PCCW Global.

Upon completion, the 25,000km-long AAE-1 will be the first high-capacity cable system to link all of the major Southeast Asian nations to Africa and Europe via the Middle East, providing robust, reliable, low-latency connectivity to some of the fastest growing and most active global trade routes.

Deploying the latest 100Gbps technology with a design capacity of more than 40 terabits, the AAE-1 cable will have the capacity to deliver high resolution media content, including bandwidth intensive HD virtual reality streams.

The landing of AAE-1 at the Cape D'Aguilar Cable Station and its imminent extension to PCCW Global’s city data switching exchange center further establishes Hong Kong as a key telecommunications hub on the cable system. AAE-1 connects Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France.

By transiting through Thailand and avoiding the heavily congested Malacca Strait route, the AAE-1 cable also provides new diversity protection in the region, while at the same time offering significantly lower latency.

Mr. Marc Halbfinger, PCCW Global's Chief Executive Officer, said,

“As AAE-1 follows a route similar to the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’, it will thus further support China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative for all forms of high-speed data services and content applications.”

PCCW Global operates one of the world’s most diverse, high quality global networks covering 3 000 cities and 150 countries, designed to serve the growing voice and data demands of both global service providers and multinational corporations. PCCW Global’s advanced network underpins a portfolio of innovative network, voice, video and cloud computing solutions designed to connect and facilitate the communications needs of global business.