A new submarine cable system called MIST Cable System (MIST) will directly connect Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand and India (Mumbai and Chennai).
First announced in 2019 by Orient Link Pte. Ltd. (OLL), the construction of the nearly 8,100-kilometer optical submarine cable by NEC Corporation (NEC) is targeted to be completed in 2022. The MIST Cable system is expected to deliver a design capacity of more than 216 terabits per second (Tbps).
For the Malaysia part, Arus Restu Sdn Bhd (ARSB) announced that it has secured a contract from Orient Link Pte. Ltd. (OLL) to construct the new submarine cable landing station in Selangor.
According to Arus Restu Sdn Bhd (ARSB), the connection to Cyberjaya (Selangor) will basically form the ‘last mile’ of the mega Myanmar, Malaysia, India, Singapore Transit (MIST) cable system.
The venture will be a first for ARSB, a holder of a network facilities provider (NFP) and network service provider license (NSP) issued by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). ARSB was established in 2012 offering solutions for Submarine Cable Blueprint, Cable Landing Facilities, Data Centre Integrations and Broadband Internet.
ARSB chief executive officer Rozaimy Rahman said, “We are obviously elated and proud to be selected by Orient Link to be part of the process to help grow the Malaysia telecommunication industry’s requirement for more bandwidth. Malaysians’ huge appetite for bandwidth and for data centre growth, this new city pop to city pop system will allow direct interconnect from Malaysia into the said countries served by the cable system.”
OLL chief executive officer Yoshio Sato in turn commented that “Globally, India and South East Asia are among the world’s fastest-growing economies. I am incredibly pleased to announce the launch of MIST in Malaysia as part of OLL’s investment, providing a connection to our clients around the world, delivering high-quality, low-latency networks to the people in Malaysia as the nation charges forward with its digital transformation roadmap. Not only will MIST respond to the growing demands for inter-data centre connectivity across countries in the South East Asia region, it also ultimately allows OLL to grow its offering and expand into India and beyond.”
Established in Singapore in 2019 with a capital of USD 119 million, Orient Link Pte. Ltd. (OLL) is a strategic joint venture between NTT Ltd., Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japan’s ICT and Postal Services Inc. (JICT) and WEN Capital Pte. Ltd. The total investment for the MIST cable system is expected to cost approximately USD 400 million.
