Japan and other countries will launch an internet infrastructure project on Friday, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said.

In a press conference, Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy said Wednesday that Japan and other countries will launch the Jupiter Project with local telecommunications companies (telcos).

"On Friday, there's the Jupiter Project which will be launched. And this is the submarine cable. That's the project of Japan and several other countries to provide a tremendous amount of connectivity to the country," Uy told reporters at Manila Hotel.

“This will be one of our international gateways. It’s a huge project and many of our local telcos will be part of it. I think Japan is one of the leading countries that have put substantial investment in this submarine cable,” he said.

“That alone will add to the international connectivity for our network,” he added.

SpaceX is a company owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

Submarine cables are fiber optic cables that link countries around the world.

Uy said the government will have to build a backbone or the national broadband to allow wider connections for the public. He hopes that with more bandwidth, there will be lower costs for internet services.

“What we need here on the local side is to build a backbone. That's the national broadband and lighten up the dark fiber of NGCCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) and many other backbones that are out there. All the telcos have their respective backbones so we’ll allow for broader connections for all our constituents. Because of our increased availability of our bandwidth, we’re hoping that the prices go down,” he said.

While submarine cables are sturdy to withstand natural disasters, they would be expensive to use in less populated areas.

“Submarine cables…whether underground terrestrial or submarine, is actually the most sturdy among the digital platforms or delivery systems that’s out there because it has a huge bandwidth and if you have volume, that really is a solution,” Uy said.

“But this is not a solution to every problem. In areas with small populations, it would not be cost-effective and it would be expensive. So there are other solutions like this satellite connectivity. We can install it immediately and its system does not cost much,” he added, referring to Starlink, the broadband system of SpaceX.

The Jupiter Project will be held at the Marriott Hotel on July 29 at 6 pm. It will be attended by representatives of Japan and other countries who are members of the consortium, and Uy.

SpaceX is set to roll out Starlink in the country by the end of the year, according to one of its executives, Rebecca Hunter.

This will make the Philippines one of the first in Southeast Asia to use satellite technology for internet connectivity. Jaspearl Tan/DMS