TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese telecommunications giant Chunghwa Telecom said Thursday (Dec. 17) that it is planning to invest in three new undersea cables, including one that can enhance connectivity between North and Southeast Asia.

As the number of international over-the-top service providers in Taiwan continues to increase, the country's importance to the Asia-Pacific network has also grown. In April, Google received approval to use a portion of a 12,875-kilometer undersea cable connecting Taiwan and California to serve users throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Chunghwa said it is hoping to expand its investments in undersea cables by participating in the construction of three new routes in the next three years. One of them, the Southeast Asia-Japan 2 (SJC2) cable, will span 10,500 km and connect 11 cable landing stations in Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China.

According to the company, the SJC2 cable will consist of eight fiber pairs with an initial design capacity of 144 Terabits per second. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Chunghwa said it currently has 27 submarine cables across the globe, including 12 that landed in Taiwan. It also boasts 57 internet points of presence in 15 countries as well as eight overseas internet data center locations, reported CNA.