Siae's Corner - Moorish on Wall-6759 SML.JPG

Background of Belau Submarine Cable Corporation

Belau Submarine Cable Corporation (BSCC) was established as a state-owned enterprise (SOE) by RPPL 9-47 (BSCC Act) on 21st September 2015, to procure, operate, and manage a submarine fiber optic cable on behalf of the Government of Palau. The sole shareholder of BSCC is the Government of Palau, and the statute stipulates that BSCC is not to be opened up to other shareholders or any public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements for the first ten years of its existence.

Financing for the project is through loans from the Asian Development Bank to the Government of the Republic of Palau, and from internal resources of the government. The Executing Agency for the project is the Ministry of Finance, while Belau Submarine Cable Corporation is the Implementing Agency.

The SEA-US submarine cable system links the five areas and territories of Manado in Indonesia; Davao in the Philippines; Piti in Guam; Honolulu in Hawaii; and Los Angeles, California. The system is approximately 15,000 kms in length and has been designed and engineered to bypass earthquake prone areas in East Asia, thereby providing strategic diversity in transpacific networks.

In 2015, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia together reached agreement with NEC of Japan for the engineering and construction of spur cables from branching units on the SEA-US submarine cable system to landing stations to be constructed in Palau and Yap. The purchase from NEC includes the wet and dry cable segments and all terminal station equipment [to be] installed at BSCC’s landing station in Ngeremlengui [state], capable of [handle ]up to five 100 Gbit per secwavelength channels for Palau, with one initial 100 Gbit per sec wavelength in service.

BSCCnet - in service since December 2017

BSCC’s submarine cable network was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The network has been carrying customer traffic since November 5 2017, and has been in error-free operation since September 11 2017. Ready for Service was declared on December 7 2017. The Republic of Palau government and ADB have agreed to extend BSCCnet from the Ngeremlengui Cable Landing Station to the airport in Airai, enabling more equitable and convenient access for BSCC’s customers. Design for the micro-ducted underground route is complete, and a tender for construction is in development.Design for the micro-ducted underground route is complete, and a tender for construction is in development. This additional work will be completed inside the original budget, so no further loan funds are required. There will be no change to BSCC pricing. Customers can connect at Customer Access Points in Ngeremlengui (CAP-N) or Airai (CAP-A) or both.

In accordance with the BSCC Act and the associated by-laws, BSCC is a wholesale carrier, selling capacity only to licenced Retail Service Providers (RSPs).