TM & NTT Com to Construct Submarine Cable System Worth RM427mil

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Telekom Malaysia (TM) has teamed up with Japan's NTT Communications (NTT Com) to build a new US$140 million (RM427 million) international submarine cable system to enhance Internet protocol communications in the region.

TM's Group Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Seri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said the submarine cable system will have six fiber pairs to be developed at a cost of US$412 million.

He said TM will own two pairs named Cahaya Malaysia which will span a distance of 7,000 kilometers and link Malaysia to Hong Kong and Japan utilizing dense wavelength division multiplexing technology (DWDM).

"NTT Com will own the remaining four fiber pairs which they plan to develop with other regional carriers to provide landing points in the Philippines and Singapore," he told reporters after the signing of an agreement here today.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Minister of Information, Communications and Culture Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim.     

Zamzamzairani said the project funded internally by the company, would enable TM to improve latency connectivity by 25 percent.

"Phase one of the cable system linking Malaysia to Japan will be completed by the middle of 2012, while phase two linking Malaysia to Hong Kong is expected to be completed by the end of 2012."

Zamzamzairani said the cable system is the first in the region based on 40 gigabits per second (Gbps) DWDM technology with a design capacity of 15 terabyte per second.

He said the cable system will be capable of supporting the upcoming 100Gbps DWDM technology which will effectively raise its capacity to several times its initial capacity.

"This cable system will also provide an alternative, diverse routing within the Asia-Pacific region to avoid areas prone to seismic activities which are hazardous to undersea cables," he said.

Currently, TM owns or leases capacity on more than 10 submarine cable systems, which span more than 60,000 fiber routes miles around the globe, including several submarine cable routes that it uses to carry traffic between the Asia-Pacific region and North America.


- Bernama

How to guarantee roaring book sales

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MONDAY STARTERS By SOO EWE JIN ewejin@thestar.com.my

YOU have to hand it to the Americans. They really know how to market themselves.

Just before Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother hit the bookstores, its author Amy Chua wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Why Chinese mothers are superior”.

The resulting controversy certainly boosted sales of this book.

Suddenly, everyone wanted to give Amy, a professor at Yale Law School, a piece of their mind, even without reading the book.

As one reviewer remarked: “The book is actually rather tame... the frenzy over an excerpt was more exciting than the actual book.”

And, true to form, Hollywood is already thinking of bringing the book to the screen.

I am sure Amy’s two earlier books, Day of Empire and World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, will generate even better sales now.

Across the Causeway, we see Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew generating as much debate with the release of his latest book Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going.

And closer to home, the Interlok issue continues to fester even though I get the feeling the majority of those who commented have not even read the book.

As the people in public relations, and also the politicians, will say: “Bad publicity is better than no publicity.”
If only such book-related controversies are a reflection that we are indeed a book-loving society, then not only will more books be sold, but prices will also come down because of increasing demand.

In this fast-paced world of ours, I wonder how many of us really find the time to read books.

Malaysians now read an average of seven or eight books in 2010, according to a study by the National Library on the public’s reading profile. This is certainly a vast improvement compared with 1996, when Malaysians read an average of two books a year.

The average may go up a bit more if the National Library includes the new generation of e-Book readers.
Friends who invest in e-Book readers often tell me how many books they have downloaded, all accessible at the touch of the screen. Yes, but do they ever get read, I wonder.

I am one of those strange people who read a number of books at any one time. They are placed in strategic sections of the house, one in the living room, one in the toilet, one in the bedroom, you get the idea.

Occasionally, I may get a book that I simply cannot put down, and so the book will go wherever I go.

Recently, I finished John Grisham’s latest novel, The Confession, in three sittings. But that was still not as good as my dear octogenarian friend, Peter, who stayed awake till the early hours to finish the book even faster. I must be careful what I buy him for Christmas next year.

A friend gave me a clip-on reading light recently and I find that when everyone has gone to bed, and all the lights in my home have been turned off, that little light always reminds me that light shines brightest when it is darkest.

In the same way, I believe, reading can truly enlighten darkened minds – if we choose our reading material with care.

• Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin is struggling to clear his bookshelves of books that his two sons grew up with but finds that the process is very difficult because every book holds such fond memories of his early parenting days. He is happy to declare that unlike Amy the Tiger Mother, he is just a Pussycat Father.

Higher income status will help grow real estate sector

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THE REAL ESTATE WITH ANGIE NG  angie@thestar.com.my

WE are in very interesting times when changes are happening in almost every sphere of our lives and in every part of the world. We are certainly experiencing first hand the age old saying that “the only constant thing is change”.

With change comes challenges and opportunities. To avoid being left behind, all alike from the common folks to governments and organisations should be proactive and take the necessary steps to be part of the big wheel of change.

One of the big changes underway for the country is the need to take the big step forward to become a high income nation. This is indeed a welcoming change that will allow all working Malaysians to progress up the income ladder and to look forward to bigger pay checks and maintain a higher standard and quality of living.

Widening the pool of high income earners is certainly good for the country to take a leapfrog forward across all the economic sectors. This is because it will promote higher domestic consumption and more sustainable growth for the country.

In the real estate sector, one of the keys to ensure sustainability in the local market is to increase the people's per capita income at least to the level of the other developed countries in Asia.

Unless we grow our per capita income, we will not be able to move up the value chain and see a phenomenal growth in our real estate sector.

The vast difference in per capita income compared with the high income countries of Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan could be the reason for the big property price gap here compared with that in those countries. Likewise in the other sectors, there are also many growth opportunities to be tapped by moving up the value chain.

It does not help that the country is still dependent on so many foreign workers which is causing substantial outflow of foreign exchange to the other countries. Instead of relying on these supposedly lower wage foreign labour, it is time to revert back to our own Malaysian workforce which will have substantial spillover benefits to the local economy.

Although the pay structure will have to be revamped upwards, employing our own workers will ensure that they will be duly employed and prevent them from getting involved in other undesirable activities if they remain unemployed.

Like many high-income countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, foreigners should only be allowed to work as domestic maids and high skilled and critical professional jobs that are in short supply locally.

This way, the people's wages will have a chance to move upwards and not kept artificially low like what is happening now. There will also be less outflow of funds from the country.

In the real estate sector, one of the most obvious changes is the rapid appreciation of property valuation and the sudden windfall for many property investors.

The sharp rise in property prices in some parts of the country has caused both anxiety and excitement depending on which side of the scale one is at.

Developers certainly have a big role to play in the way property prices move. The pace and size of their project launches will determine the supply coming into the market.

When there is still a strong pent-up demand for more affordably to higher priced houses like what is happening now, it will help if developers speed up on their launches and help to ease the supply flow.

The price of a property when it was first launched is an important factor, but beyond that, the rate of how much a property will appreciate or depreciate is dependent on a number of factors including demand and supply. While location is a major factor that determines a property's value, other important considerations include infastructure network, accessibility, security, and the amenities and facilities provided.

I have observed that while there are townships and neighbourhoods that continue to be relevant and look refreshing and happening, there are also many that are dreary without much going for them. Of course, the value of properties will also differ accordingly.

Developers should continue to establish strong rapport with their buyers even after the projects are handed over to buyers.

We should give the thumbs up to developers who consider the handing over of completed projects as the beginning of their relationship with their customers.

They continue to listen to their buyers, help to form active and engaging community activities and add value to the townships they build.

It is important not to undermine good after-sales service as they can work wonders for a developer's reputation and promote loyalty and repeat purchase from customers.

• Deputy news editor Angie Ng hopes to see developers sprucing up parks in their townships instead of cannibalising them and deprive residents of a healthy form of recreation.