In a stock exchange filing last Thursday, Converge ICT announced that it would acquire PLDT’s Luzon international landing stations.
The separate deals were signed with the PLDT subsidiary Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc. to acquire Digital Crossing Inc. The deal costs a total of USD7.5 million, or around Php357.3 million when directly converted to Philippines pesos.
This will give Converge ICT access to crucial internet gateways in the Philippines.
Telstra, a company from Australia, owns Pacnet Network Philippines Inc., a major shareholder of Digitel, which operates and maintains the said cable landing stations connected to C2C and EAC cable systems.
Consultancy firm Submarine Networks said that C2C and EAC cable systems land in Batangas and Cavite, respectively.
The acquisition is part of Converge’s plan to bring its internet services across the Philippines this year. The larger goal is reaching 55% of households by 2025.
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Converge said that it has already signed a deed of absolute sale with Digital Telecommunications to purchase 40% stake in Digital Crossing for USD4.84 million (around Php230.5 million).
A separate USD2.66 million (around Php126.7 million) deal with Digitel will give Converge ICT a stake in Asia Netcom Philippines Corp., a company that also has shares in Digitel Crossing.
Via: Inquirer
So, I double checked and in general the expected lifespan of a cable system is 25 years. You can get more out of it, but at some point it becomes economics. I swear I recently read something that basically said that–PLDT had cables nearing their lifespan and was thus investing in new cables (like Jupiter, oh were art thou). So, maybe they felt like they got a good deal. I think Converge got a good deal either way. Beginning to expand physical ownership internationally is just good business for them. And, they could keep those cables alive for a while, even if other parts of the system do shut down. I’ve done ground fiber and datacenters, but never landing stations. I’d love to know what daily work is like there. These are also the chokepoints that have national security interest. I was digging around on the APNIC tools and ye olde submarine cable map the other day trying to piece together how everyone got different places in the country and where the weak points were. I was surprised at how weak Globe’s position appeared, but appearances can easily be deceiving. You can really see that Converge is methodically building its network and is going to be a true power player in a few years. What physical infrastructure does Dito really have? They’re at the mercy of the existing players it seems. You’ve got landing stations now Converge, and I guess two NOCs built out (don’t know exactly where those are though). Please now open up another _public_ peering point with a proper looking glass. How much of this infra is behind closed doors is frustrating. It’s stifling things here when national network peering can be so bad and overloaded. Oh, and a nice carrier neutral facility with racks would do wonders also. So much stuff is actually in Singapore or Hong Kong that should really just be in-country. Props to DOST-ASTI for phopenix. others? a looking glass and some mrtg would be nice. What was I talking about again?