Defeating Global Competitors
LS Cable & System, a major South Korean wire and cable maker, announced on Sept. 4 that it has won a contract worth 40 billion won (US$35.79 million) to install high-voltage submarine cables in Malaysia.
Under the deal with Malaysia's state-run electricity company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), the company will lay extra-high-voltage submarine cables connecting the northern state of Perlis and the island of Langkawi by September 2019. LS Cable & System said the distance between them is about 28 kilometers with the maximum water depth of 20 meters. The project is expected to double the power supply to Langkawi. After TNB gave public notice of the bid in September last year, there have been keen competition for the orders as even global wire producers, including those in Europe, joined the bid.
The Malaysian government presented stricter standards of technology, production and project capability during the tendering process because the project is to create the country’s tourism hub.
LS Cable & System CEO Myung Roe-hyun said, “Our expectations for a growing demand of extra-high-voltage cables in the Southeast Asian region and our effort to strengthen marketing activities worked well. In particular, it is meaningful in that we have won two large projects in in Southeast Asia dominated by Japan in a row; one in Singapore last year and the other in Malaysia this year. The company won a 62 billion won (US$55.46 million) submarine cable contract with Singapore PowerGrid in July last year for the first time in the domestic industry.