APAC telcos Singtel and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin) are partnering on a new subsea cable between Singapore and Indonesia.
The two companies have announced a memorandum of understanding to develop a new submarine cable system connecting Singapore and Batam under the newly formed INSICA (Indonesia Singapore Cable System) Consortium.
Set to go live in Q4 2026, the 100-km INSICA cable will feature 24 fiber pairs and two diverse terrestrial cable paths, offering a maximum capacity of up to 20 terabits per second per fiber pair.
Images from Telin suggest the cable will land at Tanjung Bemban in Batam and Tuas in Singapore.
Ooi Seng Keat, VP of digital infrastructure and services at Singtel, said: “Batam is emerging as a prime location for data centers due to its close proximity to Singapore. With this cable system, we’ll be able to enhance the connectivity between the countries to support the intensive, higher power-density AI workloads of enterprises 19 and cloud companies. The development of the INSICA cable system is yet another step that we’re taking in architecting a hyper-connected, digital ecosystem to serve the long-term demands of the region’s digital future and boost the regional economy.” Telin is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telkom Indonesia. Telkom and Telin operate data centers in both Batam and Singapore. Singtel, which operates a number of data centers in Singapore, is partnering with Telkom for a data center in Batam.
Batam is the largest city in the Riau Islands and is located close to Singapore, on the opposite side of the Singapore Strait. Though easing, Singapore’s ongoing data center moratorium means developments are spilling over to nearby Johor north of the border in Malaysia, and south to Bata
Nongsa Park, developed by Citramas Group, has been granted special economic zone (SEZ) status, which provides beneficial tax tariffs. Singtel, Gaw, PDG, BW Digital, and GDS are developing facilities in Nongsa Park.
Budi Satria Dharma Purba, Telin CEO, added: “The global submarine cable market is poised for unprecedented growth over the next decade, positioning Batam and Singapore as prime locations for data center investments. The INSICA submarine cable will address the critical need for data center interconnectivity among these key strategic locations.
Batam and Singapore are currently connected by the BSCS, B2JS, B3JS, IGG, Matrix, MIC-1, PGASCOM, SEAX-1, and TIS cables. The upcoming Apricot, Asia Connect Cable-1 (ACC-1), and Hawaiki Nui 1 systems are all also set to connect the city-state with the Indonesian city.
