DE-CIX and IGC form joint venture to build Bangkok internet exchange for 2027

DE-CIX and International Gateway Co (IGC) have formed a joint venture to build an internet exchange in Bangkok, with service expected from mid-2027. Developing Telecoms reported that the companies announced the venture on Wednesday. The venture, named DE-CIX Thailand, will build and operate DE-CIX Bangkok in data centres across the city's metro market.

The Bangkok exchange will be directly interconnected with other DE-CIX exchanges in ASEAN, so networks there can peer with networks in Singapore, Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Jakarta over one regional platform. It will also be incorporated into DE-CIX's global backbone, which DE-CIX says links more than 4,600 networks across the Americas, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Bangkok will become the seventh metropolitan market on DE-CIX's Southeast Asian platform. DE-CIX already runs exchanges in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, and said close to 150 networks are connected or connecting across that fabric.

IGC, a subsidiary of ALT Telecom, will provide connectivity into the exchange and resell access to customers across mainland Southeast Asia. DE-CIX plans to draw on IGC's terrestrial network inside Thailand and across its borders to reach operators in Thailand and neighbouring countries. The Thai company has more than 12,000 kilometres of fibre across the country, and its interfaces at 12 active border crossings link 42 operators in Thailand and neighbouring states. It also connects to more than 10 Thai data centres and holds licences covering five cable landing stations.

DE-CIX said Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar together account for about half of all end users in the ASEAN region. It described Bangkok as a gateway to mainland Southeast Asia, with submarine connectivity into the Pacific and Indian Oceans and a growing data centre sector. DE-CIX chief executive Ivo Ivanov said, "Thailand is the next logical step in our Southeast Asian growth strategy". Ivanov also said customers would gain "lower latency, greater resilience, and direct access to cloud, AI, content, and network providers across the DE-CIX platform". IGC chief executive Supat Eamwiwat said the exchange would let customers swap traffic "not only locally but regionally".

HostingJournalist noted that the announcement left pricing, participating facilities and initial customer commitments undisclosed. It said buyers would need to weigh transport costs into the exchange and the availability of useful peers against any savings on upstream transit.