CAT Telecom has begun digging the 3-meter-deep trench that will be used to house fiber-optic cables for its ultra-high speed Internet network.
Working in stretches of 500 meters, two drilling machines worked in tandem to create the trench along Second Road from the Dolphin Roundabout to Central Road. Work will continue to Pratamnak Road over the next four months. Barriers have already gone up, preventing accidents, but adding to traffic congestion.
The trench will house underground data lines for CAT’s fiber-to-the-home project, which promises to bring Internet speeds of 100-150 megabits per second to Pattaya. The city is being used as a pilot project with CAT eventually planning to spend 6 billion baht to bring super-fast data networks to every province in Thailand.
Special equipment has been brought in to dig the 3-meter-deep trench that will be used to house fiber-optic cables for CAT’s ultra-high speed Internet network.
Cable will be laid from North Pattaya Road and Soi Pettrakul, down to the Dolphin Roundabout and along Second Road to Pratamnak Road and the Bali Hai flyover. Work is not expected to be completed until November.
City officials said they’ve asked CAT to allow other utility companies to lay power and other cables alongside the fiber-optic at the same time so as to minimize the disruption from the latest round of road construction.