PRESS RELEASE — HKT (SEHK:6823) – HONG KONG — PCCW Global, the international operating division of HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider, has come together with consortium members Amazon, Facebook, NTT Communications, PLDT and SoftBank to construct JUPITER, a high-capacity cable system that will connect Maruyama and Shima in Japan with Los Angeles in the USA and Daet in the Philippines, with a target ready-for-service date of early 2020.

The JUPITER network will deliver a capacity of more than 60 Tbps over a route of approximately 14,000km utilizing the latest submersible Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) which employs Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS) technology, providing a greater diversity of connections and enhanced reliability for customers as well as optimized connectivity to data centers on the West Coast of the USA.

Bandwidth demand over the trans-Pacific route has more than tripled in just four years, making the timing of the decision to construct JUPITER crucial to the continued provision of cost-effective trans-Pacific solutions. Moreover, this demand trend is expected to continue with new, bandwidth-intensive technologies including Virtual Reality (VR), social media applications, video streaming, and gaming content growing rapidly in popularity.

Mr. Marc Halbfinger, Chief Executive Officer of PCCW Global, said, “Consumers and enterprises continue to require significantly increasing amounts of bandwidth whether for their own applications, or for their interface with content providers, hosting companies and cloud services. The JUPITER network will play a crucial role in serving this increased demand across the key trans-Pacific artery.”

PCCW Global in consortium to build JUPITER trans-Pacific network

About PCCW Global
PCCW Global is the international operating division of HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider, which is majority-owned by PCCW Limited. Covering more than 3,000 cities and 150 countries, the PCCW Global network supports a portfolio of integrated global communications solutions which include Ethernet, IP, fiber and satellite transmission solutions, international voice and VoIPX services, managed network & security services and our expanding “as-a-service” solutions including OTT video and Unified Communications.

PCCW Global is headquartered in Hong Kong, and maintains regional centers in Belgium, China, France, Greece, Japan, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. To learn more about PCCW Global, please visit www.pccwglobal.com.

About HKT
HKT (SEHK: 6823) is Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider and leading operator in fixed-line, broadband and mobile communication services. It meets the needs of the Hong Kong public and local and international businesses with a wide range of services including local telephony, local data and broadband, international telecommunications, mobile, and other telecommunications businesses such as customer premises equipment sales, outsourcing, consulting, and contact centers.

HKT offers a unique quadruple-play experience in Hong Kong delivering media content on its fixed-line, broadband Internet access and mobile platforms jointly with its parent company, PCCW Limited.

HKT also provides a range of innovative and smart living services beyond connectivity to make the daily lives of customers more convenient, whether they are at home, in the workplace, or on the go. For more information, please visit www.hkt.com.

Source: PCCW Global