Singapore-based asset manager Keppel Ltd. has signed an Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) agreement with an unnamed global technology leader for the fourth fibre pair on the Bifrost Cable System (Bifrost), with the fifth and final pair under discussion. It is also progressing well to finalise the development of its next cable system, the company says in a statement yesterday.
This followed the signing in May of an IRU with Telstra International, the global arm of the Australian telecommunications company Telstra, for the third Bifrost fibre pair.
Spanning over 20,000 km, Bifrost is the world’s first subsea cable system directly linking Singapore to the west coast of the USA via Indonesia through the Java Sea and Celebes Sea.
Keppel will continue to operate and maintain the fibre pairs, which will generate stable long-term recurring income over 25 years, giving an internal rate of return of about 30 per cent for the entire project. Keppel’s investment in the Bifrost fibre pairs is held through a 40-60 joint venture with its private fund co-investors.
Manjot Singh Mann, CEO, Connectivity of Keppel, said, “Cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digitalisation are accelerating demand for critical infrastructure such as subsea cables that underpins the digital economy. The strong take-up of Bifrost’s capacity reflects the growing demand for connectivity infrastructure that is resilient, secure and diverse, including not just subsea cables, but also high-performance data centres and reliable power, all of which are solutions that Keppel provides.”
Bifrost supports AI and cloud-native workloads with round-trip latency of under 165 milliseconds, which is up to 10 milliseconds faster than existing systems, between Singapore and the USA. With over 240 Tbps of new trans-Pacific capacity, it enhances the resilience of this critical digital corridor.