The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and InfiniVAN Inc., a Japanese-Filipino telco provider, on Wednesday signed a lease agreement allowing the latter to use the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure (LBI), which is poised to increase the country’s connectivity and attract more foreign investors.
The long-term lease includes the use of the remaining available land and facilities at the Poro Point Cable Landing Station (CLS) in San Fernando, La Union.
It also allows the use of parts of LBI’s 240-kilometer fiber-optic conduit network, which connects BCDA’s Poro Point and Baler CLS facilities.
The lease formalizes a previous memorandum of agreement signed in September by BCDA, Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed IPS, Inc., and its Philippine subsidiary InfiniVAN.
BCDA said the use of these facilities is expected to significantly increase the country’s provision of international bandwidth and improve Internet connectivity.
“What this means for ordinary Filipinos is better education for our children, faster internet connectivity, and improved tools for our small businesses,” said BCDA president and CEO Joshua M. Bingcang in his speech during the signing.
“We will be able to attract more investors to our economic areas,” he added, noting that in addition to the location, large businesses value the strong connections, which the project will provide.
Meanwhile, Koji Miyashita, chairman of InfiniVAN, said the agreement will create a secure and robust digital corridor between Japan and the Philippines.
“The route from Poro Point through LBI to Baler is considered by Japan to be very important from a national security point of view, providing a secure route that connects our two countries even closer,” he said.
Miyashita added that InfiniVAN will not use infrastructure alone, as the company aims to develop an open platform to support future submarine cable projects across Asia.
InfiniVAN plans to use the “Open CLS” model for Poro Point and the upcoming Baler landing stations, allowing any submarine cable to land and multiple backhaul providers to operate, increasing connectivity and competition.
LBI, a project launched in 2017 by BCDA in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), is an important part of the government’s National Broadband Plan, a policy framework designed to expand fast, affordable, and reliable internet across the country.
The project was started in partnership with Facebook, now called Meta, to enable the deployment of the Pacific Light Cable Network (PCLN), an underwater fiber-optic system that connects the US, Hong Kong, and the Philippines for high-speed Internet.
However, the BCDA said the project faced “unexpected political developments,” leaving LBI’s infrastructure underutilized.
Together, BCDA said that the value of national assets will be fully utilized.
The plan will also expand Internet access and service coverage through InfiniVAN’s fiber-optic network, lower Internet costs for homes and businesses and help the Philippines connect digitally with its ASEAN neighbors and the global economy.
This project builds on InfiniVAN’s other submarine cable projects, including the Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network (PDSCN), and its ongoing construction of the Baler landing station of the CANDLE cable system.
The CANDLE system is a 24-fiber-pair intra-Asia network with a rated capacity of 570 terabits per second (Tbps) and is expected to be operational by 2028. Edg Adrian A. Eva
