A wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation (Keppel T&T) has been granted a facilities-based operator licence by the Infocomm Media Development Authority.

Keppel Corp said that the licence gives Keppel Midgard Holdings the right to own, maintain and operate telecoms infrastructure in Singapore, and to provide telecoms services in connection with the Bifrost Cable System.

The cable system - which Keppel T&T is undertaking with partners Facebook and Telin - is the world's first subsea cable system that directly connects Singapore to the west coast of North America via Indonesia through the Java Sea and Celebes Sea.

The project, announced last month, is expected to be completed in 2024 and will span over 15,000km.

Keppel Corp said the system will boost the connectivity of the region's governments and businesses by offering "competitive pricing and capacity resilience".

"Securing the licence is an important milestone for Keppel as it marks the start of our subsea cable business in Singapore," said Keppel T&T chief executive Thomas Pang.

He added that the Bifrost project "can give rise to potential opportunities for cross-selling or creating new profit pools across Keppel's different connectivity businesses - for example, by leveraging Keppel Data Centres' network of data centres as potential points of presence".

Keppel T&T may also collaborate with funds managed by Keppel Capital to help provide funding.

Mr Pang added: "Drawing from our experience in Bifrost, we will also explore other opportunities in subsea cables."

THE BUSINESS TIMES