SoftBank Corp. Begins Operating
New Asia Pacific Submarine Cable

Tokyo, December 19th, 2024 - SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) today announced it has finished construction of the Asia Direct Cable (ADC), a high-performance submarine cable connecting China (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province), Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. SoftBank began operating the ADC on December 19, 2024.

The ADC submarine cable is owned by the ADC Consortium and features multiple pairs of high-capacity optical fibers. It is designed to carry more than 160 Tbps of traffic, enabling the high-capacity transmission of data across the East and Southeast Asian regions.

The new cable represents a significant achievement as the latest Intra-Asia cable connecting China (Hong Kong SAR), Japan and Singapore in the past eight years, providing essential infrastructure to support the burgeoning traffic demand in the region and opening up new avenues for communication and society's future.

SoftBank is providing the Maruyama Cable Landing Station (“Maruyama CLS”) located in Minamiboso City, Chiba Prefecture, as the landing station in Japan for ADC. Maruyama CLS has provided its landing services for many submarine cables including the trans-Pacific optical submarine cable “JUPITER”^*, which started operating in 2020. In December 2019, a new building equipped with the latest security measures and robust disaster countermeasures was completed, and it plays an important role as a data center serving as a hub for international communications.

Leveraging its extensive experience and advanced technology in international submarine cable projects, SoftBank joined the ADC consortium as the sole telecommunications carrier from Japan. SoftBank played a central role in driving the project forward, serving as the chair of the consortium's main committee.

The commencement of ADC operations contributes to one of the six material issues (materiality) identified by SoftBank within the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), specifically “Building High-Quality Social Infrastructure.”

SoftBank will continue to provide consistent and reliable services to meet global data traffic demands and contribute to the telecommunications industry as a key provider of international submarine cable gateways in Japan.

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