Asia Direct Cable project overview
NEC Corporation will supply and build the Asia Direct Cable (ADC), a high‑performance submarine cable system that links Hong Kong SAR, Guangdong Province, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This Asia Direct Cable NEC submarine system will strengthen regional connectivity and support fast‑growing data demand across East and Southeast Asia. You can learn more about NEC at https://www.nec.com.
NEC plans to construct the 9,400 km ADC cable, and the partners aim to complete the system by the fourth quarter of 2022. The design uses multiple pairs of high‑capacity optical fibers and can carry more than 140 Tbps of traffic. As a result, it will move large amounts of data quickly and reliably between Asia’s main hubs.
High‑capacity infrastructure for next‑generation services
The Asia Direct Cable will support bandwidth‑intensive services such as 5G, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, its high capacity and low‑latency routes will help carriers and service providers deliver better mobile, enterprise, and cloud connectivity throughout the region.
ADC brings together a consortium of major communications and technology companies, including CAT, China Telecom, China Unicom, PLDT Inc., Singtel, SoftBank Corp., Tata Communications, and Viettel. For more on their global networks, visit operator sites such as https://www.chinatelecomglobal.com, https://www.pldt.com, https://www.singtel.com, and https://www.softbank.jp.
Consortium leaders explain that ADC’s high cable capacity and diverse routing will support Asia’s key information hubs. In turn, this will help carriers plan networks more efficiently and support long‑term, sustainable digital growth across the region.
NEC’s role as ADC submarine cable supplier
As the supplier of the ADC cable, NEC builds on long experience with trans‑Asia submarine cable systems. The company has delivered many similar systems, so partners view it as a trusted choice for this strategic project. NEC notes that the ADC system will reinforce critical infrastructure and improve seamless connectivity for every country the cable reaches.
NEC’s Submarine Network Division will deploy advanced optical fiber technology that supports high reliability and easy future upgrades. Consequently, operators can scale capacity over time and keep pace with rising demand for international data traffic across Asian markets.
