SINGAPORE — Keppel Ltd. (Keppel) announced today that the Bifrost Cable System has officially achieved Ready-for-Service (RFS) status and is set to begin carrying commercial traffic in the coming weeks. This milestone marks a significant advancement in global digital infrastructure, strengthening connectivity between Southeast Asia and the United States.
The Bifrost Cable System is the world’s first subsea cable network to directly connect Singapore to the west coast of the United States via Indonesia, traversing the Java Sea and Celebes Sea. Spanning more than 20,000 kilometers, the system is designed to support AI-driven workloads, cloud-native platforms, and real-time digital services. It delivers round-trip latency of under 165 milliseconds between Singapore and the U.S.—up to 10 milliseconds faster than many existing trans-Pacific systems.
By charting a new route across the Pacific Ocean, Bifrost adds over 260 terabits per second (Tbps) of additional capacity, significantly enhancing the resilience and performance of one of the world’s busiest digital corridors.
“Keppel is proud to announce that the Bifrost Cable System has achieved Ready-for-Service status. This landmark project will strengthen digital connectivity between Southeast Asia and the United States, reinforce Singapore’s position as a leading digital hub in Asia, and support the region’s fast-growing digital economy,” said Mr. Manjot Singh Mann, CEO, Connectivity, Keppel. “We look forward to expanding our subsea cable footprint across Asia and beyond, in partnership with global cloud providers and technology leaders.”
Keppel has been allocated five out of twelve fibre pairs in the Bifrost system. These are jointly owned with Keppel’s private fund co-investors through a 40:60 joint venture.
Strategic Landing Points
The Bifrost Cable System lands in Singapore, Guam, and Grover Beach, California, with branching units extending connectivity to Jakarta and Manado in Indonesia, Davao in the Philippines, and Winema, Oregon in the U.S. These diverse landing points enable dynamic traffic routing and robust regional interconnection.
In the Philippines, Converge ICT Solutions Inc. (Converge) will serve as the designated landing party in Davao.
“The Philippines is strategically located at the heart of the Asia-Pacific region, making it an ideal hub for digital infrastructure,” said Mr. Dennis Anthony Uy, CEO of Converge. “The Bifrost Cable System is designed to meet the region’s growing connectivity needs and establish a vital direct link to the U.S. For the Philippines, this means improved network resilience, greater redundancy, and expanded international bandwidth to support the country’s digital transformation.”
World-Class Engineering
The construction of the Bifrost Cable System was led by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), a global leader in subsea cable technology.
“We are very proud to have been selected by Keppel and its partners to deliver this landmark project,” said Mr. Alain Biston, CEO of ASN. “Reaching Ready-for-Service status is a testament to the dedication of the ASN team and the close collaboration with our partners to bring Bifrost online.”
With commercial activation scheduled in the coming weeks, the Bifrost Cable System is poised to play a pivotal role in supporting the next wave of digital transformation. It will enhance the resilience of regional digital infrastructure, foster greater global data exchange, and contribute to the continued growth of the Asia-Pacific digital economy.|
