Philippine telco PLDT has launched a cable landing station in Digos, Davao del Sur.

As part of an effort to expand connectivity in the Mindanao region, the facility is one of two landing points in the Philippines for the Apricot subsea cable system.

The other landing point is in Baler, Aurora.

PLDT announced it had completed the cable laying for the branches to Baler and Davao earlier this month. Regulatory approval for the facilities was first secured in July 2023.

First announced in 2021, the 12,000-kilometer-long Google/Meta-led Apricot cable will connect Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines with Taiwan, Guam, and Japan.

Apricot will have an initial design capacity of more than 211Tbps when complete in 2027.

"International submarine cable systems are vital network infrastructure that are essential in supporting the exponential growth of data traffic brought about by the increasingly digital lifestyles of Filipinos," said Butch Jimenez, chief operating officer at PLDT. “Aside from supporting international data traffic, the Apricot cable system’s route also provides resiliency to PLDT's domestic network between Luzon and Mindanao.”

Taiwanese telco Chunghwa Telecom and Japan’s NTT are also part of the cable consortium.

As well as Aurora and Davos, the cable is set to land in Agat, Guam; Batam and Tanjung Pakis, Indonesia; Minamiboso, Japan; Tuas, Singapore; and Toucheng, Taiwan.

PLDT has existing CLS facilities in Deat, La Union, and Batangas.

Davao in the Philippines is also home to the SEA-US cable, with the ACC-1 and Bifrost cables set to land in the coming years.