Keppel has found a user for another fibre pair for its Bifrost Cable System, which means there is only a remaining fibre pair out of the total of five not spoken for.
According to Keppel, it has leased the fourth pair to an unnamed "global technology leader" and that it is in "active discussions" for its fifth and final fibre pair.
Earlier, the company announced that Telstra, Australia's incumbent telco, had signed a 25-year deal.
Beyond Bifrost, Keppel is "progressing well" to finalise the development of its next cable system.
Spanning over 20,000 km, Bifrost is the world’s first subsea cable system directly linking Singapore to the west coast of USA via Indonesia through the Java Sea and Celebes Sea.
Keppel’s investment in the Bifrost fibre pairs is held through a 40-60 joint venture with its private fund co-investors.
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The cable system will help Keppel generate recurring income over 25 years. Building on the strong commercial traction, Keppel expects to achieve an internal rate of return of about 30% for the overall Bifrost project.
"Cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digitalisation are accelerating demand for critical infrastructure such as subsea cables that underpins the digital economy, says Manjot Singh Mann, CEO, Connectivity, at Keppel.
"The strong take-up of Bifrost’s capacity reflects the growing demand for connectivity infrastructure that is resilient, secure and diverse, including not just subsea cables, but also high-performance data centres and reliable power, all of which are solutions that Keppel provides.
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"Against this backdrop, Keppel is well positioned to seize these opportunities and deliver differentiated solutions to customers, while creating value for our limited partners and growing recurring income for the company," he adds.
Keppel shares gained 1.69% to trade at $11.40 ahead of the lunch break. It is up 10.89% year to date.
