JAKARTA: A landing ceremony for the Nongsa-Changi Cable (NCC) on Monday (July 20) marked the infrastructure’s impact in strengthening digital connectivity between Indonesia and Singapore as well as the wider region.
The undersea communication cable, which connects Batam’s Nongsa district and Singapore’s Changi area, is designed to provide a high-speed communication lane with ultralow latency to support data centres, cloud computing and artificial intelligence ecosystems in South-East Asia.
Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who is also the island state’s trade and industry minister, and Coordinating Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto attended the ceremony on July 20 at the Nongsa Digital Park (NDP) in Batam, the Riau Islands.
They were accompanied by key government and industrial leaders from the two countries, including Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Lt. Gen. (ret) Hotmangaraja Panjaitan, Secretary of the Office of Coordinating Economy Minister Susiwiyono, Riau Islands Deputy Governor Nyanyang Haris Pratamura, Riau Islands Police chief Insp. Gen. Asep Safrudin and his deputy Brig. Gen. Anom Wibomo, as well as founder Kris Wiliuan of the Citramas Group, a codeveloper of the NDP.
“In a more uncertain global environment, it is even more important for Singapore and Indonesia to continue strengthening our partnership," Gan said in his ceremonial speech.
Digital infrastructure had now become the main foundation for modern economic growth, especially to support AI and cross-border data processing reliably and safely, he said.
"Our strengths between Batam and Singapore, between Indonesia and Singapore, are complementary. Singapore brings global connectivity, a trusted business environment and links to companies and customers around the world,” Gan said.
“Indonesia brings scale, talent, land for future growth and significant potential in renewable energy.”
The deputy prime minister went on to highlight the specifications of the Nongsa-Changi undersea cable, which he believed could accelerate bilateral economic integration with its capacity of more than 1.6 petabits (1,600 terabits) per second and latency of under 2 milliseconds.
At the same event, Airlangga welcomed the NCC as a concrete step in Indonesia’s digital transformation, emphasising the country’s standing as one of Asia’s largest digital markets with 232.26 million internet users that offered the fourth largest AI market potential after China, India and Japan.
“Today, we are not only celebrating the landing of the submarine communication cable but also stronger digital connection between two neighbouring countries,” he said on Monday.
“Batam has grown rapidly as Indonesia’s digital gateway, and this infrastructure is the foundation for a new physical digital corridor.”
The senior minister added that Batam boasted annual data center growth of 22 per cent, higher than the national average of 19 per cent, and was expected to support the country’s 8 per cent growth target through its resilient and sustainable digital ecosystem.
Dian Siswarini, president director of state-owned telecommunication firm PT Telkom Indonesia, said earlier that the NCC’s landing was an important milestone in supporting Indonesia’s digital sovereignty while strengthening Singapore’s position as a regional digital hub.
"Connecting Batam and Singapore through the shortest route across the Singapore Strait, the NCC established a high-capacity, low-latency digital corridor designed to support the next generation of AI, cloud, hyperscale and data centre ecosystems," she said.
Dian added that the initiative was in line with Telkom Group’s strategy to develop a globally competitive national digital infrastructure.
NDP chief executive Mark Wiluan said the completion of the cross-border cable project was the result of long-term planning and investment over more than a decade in developing Nongsa as Indonesia’s digital bridge and techno hub.
“Today is not just about submarine communication cable landing but about connectivity, collaboration and digital future which we will build together,” Mark said on Monday.
“Digital infrastructure has become economic and national infrastructure, allowing businesses to prosper, talents to grow and the public to participate in global digital economy,” he said.
Spanning 19.33km along the shortest, most direct route between Nongsa and Changi across the Singapore Strait, the NCC has 24 fibre-optic pairs and offers ultralow latency
The project is a strategic collaboration between Telkom subsidiary PT Telkom Indonesia Internasional (Telin), Singaporean digital infrastructure firm BW Digital and the NDP. It has full government support through the Office of the Coordinating Economy Minister, the Communications and Digital Ministry and the Batam Free Trade Zone Authority (BP Batam) as well as the Singapore Economic Development Board. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
