Pulau Perhentian Besar, Malaysia

Pulau Perhentian Besar: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Pulau Perhentian Besar is an island located off the northeastern coast of Malaysia, in the state of Terengganu. As a submarine cable landing point, it is served by one submarine cable that connects it to the Malaysian mainland. The island's landing point represents a short-distance, inter-island and island-to-mainland connectivity link rather than an intercontinental corridor.

The single cable landing at Pulau Perhentian Besar is the Besut-Perhentian Islands cable, a domestic Malaysian system that links the island to the nearby mainland town of Besut. This cable establishes a direct submarine connection between Pulau Perhentian Besar and the Malaysian peninsula, enabling data and communications traffic to flow between the island and the wider national network.

Cables Landing at Pulau Perhentian Besar

The Besut-Perhentian Islands cable is a short domestic submarine cable with a length of 21 km. It reached ready-for-service status in 2019 and operates in draft status. Both endpoints of this cable are located within Malaysia, connecting Pulau Perhentian Besar to the Besut area on the Terengganu mainland. As an entirely intra-Malaysian system, the cable serves to extend connectivity from the peninsula to the island rather than forming part of any international submarine cable route.

Regional Context

Within Malaysia's submarine cable landscape, Pulau Perhentian Besar is among the smaller landing points by cable count. Other Malaysian landing points such as Mersing, which hosts five cables, and Cherating, Morib, Penang, and Sedili, each hosting three cables, serve broader regional and international roles. Pulau Perhentian Besar's single domestic cable reflects its function as a local access point rather than a major hub within Malaysia's submarine cable network.

Network Role

Pulau Perhentian Besar functions as a single-cable terminus, serving the specific purpose of connecting an offshore island to the Malaysian mainland. The Besut-Perhentian Islands cable provides the island with a dedicated submarine link that supports local communications requirements, routing traffic between Pulau Perhentian Besar and the Terengganu coast.

As a terminus for a short, intra-national submarine cable, Pulau Perhentian Besar occupies a distinct position in Malaysia's submarine cable graph — one oriented entirely toward domestic island access rather than international or inter-regional connectivity. In a national network where landing points such as Penang and Mersing anchor international and regional cable systems, Pulau Perhentian Besar represents the end node of a localized link designed to bring fixed submarine connectivity to an island community off peninsular Malaysia's east coast.