BISMILLAHIR RAHMAN NIR RAHIM

Assalamualaikum Warah matullahi Wabarakatuh.

Yang Mulia, Haji Awang Alaihuddin bin Pehin Orang Kaya Digadong Seri Lela Dato Seri Utama Haji Awang Mohd Taha, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications as Chairman of AITI and Chairman of the AAG Submarine Cable Steering Committee,

Permanent Secretaries,

Your Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners,

Yang Mulia Dato Paduka Haji Othman bin Haji Yaakub, Chairman for Board of Directors of TelBru,

Yang Mulia Dr. Hj Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Chairman & CEO of DST Group

Board Members of AITI, TelBru and DST,

Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this important event to mark the soft-launching of the Asia-America Gateway Submarine Cable project.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have witnessed some significant developments in the info communication industry in Brunei Darussalam over the past few years. Despite such positive developments, we still have many more new challenges ahead of us, not only to meet the increasing demand of the community and the industry, but of equal importance, is to position ourselves strategically in order to seize the economic opportunities of the new digital world. This includes the development and improvement of our telecommunications infrastructure.

Alhamdulillah, with the consent of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam has agreed to participate in building together the Asia-America Gateway or AAG submarine cable project, alongside other parties, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong SAR, the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii and the USA. In general, the AAG project is the construction of the submarine cable network from Asian countries including Brunei Darussalam all the way to the United States of America. This project is estimated to worth US $565 million and expected to complete by next year, Insha-Allah. This project represents a strategic investment that will strengthen the security and safeguard the interest of Brunei Darussalam by ensuring a secure and continuous communication with the outside world. In other words, it serves as an alternative or a back-up to the existing submarine cable (SEA-ME-WE3).

Our participation in the AAG submarine cable project is also in line with the Ministry of Communication’s mission ‘to provide a safe, efficient, accessible and secure communications so as to enhance national competitiveness and quality of life in the knowledge–based economy.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

With the increasing demand for higher bandwith, countries are also experiencing limitations due to the limited international bandwith with no direct US connectivity. With AAG this limitation can be addressed as it is designed to have a capacity of up to 1.92 Terabits per second of data bandwith. The increased capacity will cater for the new technologies in broadband applications such as IP, video and other multimedia services. AAG will also improve internet and e-commerce traffic. This will surely support our country’s efforts towards promoting our economy.

To facilitate the efficient running of the AAG operation, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam has consented to the establishment of a company called the Brunei International Gateway Sdn Bhd (BIG). This company shall lead the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) submarine cable project, manage the cable services and sell the capacity to local and foreign telecommunication operators. In this connection, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the relevant agencies for their cooperation and assistance in facilitating the setting up of the company.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The AAG submarine cable project shows that we are getting closer to our vision of achieving excellence in communications for enhancing competitiveness. I wish all the parties involved in this project the very best and hope that we will achieve what we have aimed for in our strategic plan. Surely the success of the AAG Submarine Cable project will show that what is stated in the strategic vision of Brunei Darussalam are not merely words, but are actual prediction of what lies ahead for our country.

Wabillahi Taufik Walhidayah Assalamualaikum Warahmahtullahi Wabarakatuh.​​