Singkawang, Indonesia

Singkawang, Indonesia: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Singkawang is a coastal city and port situated in West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, Indonesia. Positioned approximately 145 kilometres north of Pontianak, the provincial capital, and bordered by the Pasi, Poteng, and Sakkok mountains, the city's coastal setting on Borneo's western shore makes it a natural candidate for submarine cable infrastructure. One submarine cable currently lands at Singkawang, connecting it to the broader Indonesian national network.

The single cable serving Singkawang is the Palapa Ring West, a domestic Indonesian system that links multiple landing points within the Indonesian archipelago. As both endpoints of this cable fall within Indonesia, Singkawang's connectivity role is oriented entirely toward intra-national communication, supporting connectivity within the Indonesian island corridor rather than bridging international routes.

Cables Landing at Singkawang

The Palapa Ring West cable is the sole submarine cable landing at Singkawang. Stretching approximately 1,980 kilometres in length, the system reached its ready-for-service date in 2018. All landing points on the Palapa Ring West are located within Indonesia, making it a domestic submarine cable system. The cable forms part of Indonesia's national Palapa Ring initiative, which was designed to extend submarine and terrestrial fibre connectivity across the Indonesian archipelago, reaching areas not previously served by submarine infrastructure.

Regional Context

Within Indonesia's extensive submarine cable landscape — which encompasses 70 cables across 139 landing points — Singkawang ranks among the smaller nodes, hosting a single cable compared to major hubs such as Batam (20 cables), Jakarta (9 cables), or Tanjung Pakis (9 cables). Nonetheless, Singkawang's position places it in the top 62 percent of Indonesian landing points by cable count, reflecting the reality that the majority of the country's 139 landing points serve a single cable or a small number of systems. Its role is complementary to the larger hubs rather than competitive with them.

Network Role

Singkawang functions as a single-cable domestic terminus on the Palapa Ring West system, directing connectivity along the western Indonesian corridor. Rather than serving as an international gateway or a multi-cable interchange, it represents a point of access within a nationally scoped network, extending submarine fibre reach to West Kalimantan on Borneo's western coast. The Palapa Ring West system connects Singkawang with other Indonesian landing points across a nearly 2,000-kilometre route, integrating the city into the national fibre ring.

Within the broader Indonesian submarine cable graph — one of the most complex in Southeast Asia — single-cable landing points such as Singkawang serve the important function of distributing connectivity to coastal communities and cities outside the primary international hubs. Singkawang's place on the Palapa Ring West illustrates how domestic submarine systems extend the reach of national connectivity infrastructure to regional cities along Borneo's coast.