Candle

Overview

Candle is a submarine cable system spanning approximately 8,000 km across the Asia-Pacific region. It connects Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan, serving an intra-Asia corridor that links some of the region's most active digital economies. Candle is planned for service in 2028 and is owned by a consortium of telecommunications and technology companies.

Route and Landings

In Indonesia, the cable lands at Batam. Japan is served by a landing at Maruyama. Malaysia has a landing station at Sedili. The Philippines hosts two landing points: Baler and Nasugbu. Singapore connects via Changi North. In Taiwan, the cable comes ashore at Toucheng.

Ownership and Operators

Candle is owned by a consortium comprising IPS, Inc., Meta, SoftBank, Telekom Malaysia, and XLSmart. Telekom Malaysia is the national telecommunications provider of Malaysia, while SoftBank is a major Japanese telecommunications group. Meta, the American technology company, has invested in several submarine cable projects across the Asia-Pacific as part of its global network infrastructure expansion.

Status and Timeline

Candle is currently planned, with a Ready for Service date of 2028. Construction and deployment activities are expected to proceed ahead of that target date.

Regional Context

The intra-Asia corridor that Candle occupies is served by a number of other cable systems of varying scale. EAC-C2C, ready for service in 2002, connects Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan over 36,500 km. The Asia-America Gateway (AAG) Cable System, in service since 2009, reaches Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore across 20,000 km. More recently, the PEACE Cable entered service in 2022 linking Singapore over 25,000 km, and SeaMeWe-6 — connecting Malaysia and Singapore — is planned at 21,700 km with a 2026 RFS date. Project Waterworth, at 50,000 km, also touches Malaysia. Candle, at 8,000 km, is considerably more compact than these systems, reflecting a focused intra-regional design rather than long-haul intercontinental reach.

Based on 57 ping tests conducted over the last 60 days, Candle shows an average round-trip latency of 107.5 ms, with a best recorded measurement of 6.2 ms.

Strategic Role

By landing at seven points across six countries, Candle distributes connectivity across Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan within a single cable system. Its landing configuration — including two Philippine landing stations and dedicated touchpoints in each of the other five countries — provides multiple entry points into the regional network fabric. When it enters service in 2028, Candle will add capacity to an intra-Asia corridor that already supports dense interconnection between these markets.