Chunghwa Telecom to join consortium in new submarine cable project

Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Chunghwa Telecom Co., one of the major telecom service providers in Taiwan, has joined a consortium of companies to build a new intra-Asia undersea cable system, which is scheduled for completion in 2029.

Chunghwa Telecom signed an agreement in Singapore on Wednesday with its partners -- Singtel, Telekom Malaysia, Unified National Networks of Brunei, Dreamline of South Korea, Globe Telecom of the Philippines, ARTERIA Networks of Japan, and Amazon Web Services and Microsoft of the United States -- to build the cable system.

Chunghwa Telecom, which has committed more than NT$2.4 billion (US$81.63 million) to the consortium based on its share in the project, said the new 8,900-kilometer-long submarine cable system, called Asia United Gateway East Submarine Cable System or AUG East, is expected to land in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan, and cover key markets in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia.

According to Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan will host dual landing points in Yilan and Taitung, which do not overlap with the landing points of the Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 (SJC2) system, the other dual landing cable in the country, while the new system will traverse the western waters of the Philippines, differing from the APRICOT cable system currently under construction, which runs through the eastern waters.

Chunghwa Telecom has invested in both the SJC2 cable and APRICOT cable systems. The SJC2 system was inaugurated on Friday with Taiwan hosting two landing stations -- one in Tamsui, New Taipei, and another in Fangshan in Pingtung.

This strategic configuration enhances Taiwan's international network connectivity and provides greater diversity and resilience for the company's customers, Chunghwa Telecom said.

In addition, the diversified routing further strengthens regional network resilience, Chunghwa Telecom added.

Like the E2A Cable, Chunghwa Telecom announced in March 2025, the company said the AUG East system will also adopt the latest submarine cable technologies and upon completion, the integration of these two systems will establish a high-speed digital corridor between major Asian and North American markets.

The AUG East consortium is expected to bring together leading regional telecom operators and global over-the-top (OTT) media services providers to show a unified cross-border collaboration at a time of global political and geopolitical shifts.

"AUG East is an integral part of Chunghwa Telecom's ' Sea, Land, Sky, and Space' network strategy, underscoring our confidence in Taiwan's emergence as a digital hub in the Asia-Pacific region," the company's chairman Chien Chih-cheng (簡志誠) said in the statement.

"Chunghwa Telecom remains committed to taking concrete actions to strengthen Taiwan's network resilience, empowering AI to drive industrial transformation and innovation," Chien said.