*This report is excerpted from the WIDE Project Report 2025
Chapter 1. Introduction
This paper reports on the operation of the Arterial Research and Educational Network in Asia-Pacific (ARENA-PAC), a broadband backbone network for research and education purposes in the Asia-Pacific region. Operated by the WIDE Project, ARENA-PAC utilises a submarine cable network contracted for long-term use by the Asia-Pacific Internet Development Trust (APIDT), a fund dedicated to developing the Internet in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to utilising the submarine cable network secured by APIDT, ARENA-PAC aims to become a wide-area, high-capacity backbone network that serves as an “artery” across the Asia-Pacific region, as suggested by its name, through interconnection with other research and education networks.
This paper provides an update on the current operational status of ARENA-PAC and international collaborative efforts.
Chapter 2. ARENA-PAC Operational Status and Expansion Plans
As of the end of December 2025, ARENA-PAC operates the following five links:
- Tokyo–Guam 100 Gbps link
- Guam–Singapore 100 Gbps link (a joint link operated by the Guam-SG Connectivity Consortium: ARENA-PAC, AARNet, Internet2, and IN@IU)
- Guam–Malang (Indonesia) 100 Gbps link
- Guam–Quezon (Philippines) 100 Gbps link
- Singapore–Penang (Malaysia) 100 Gbps link
In addition, from 2026 onward, ARENA-PAC plans to expand into the Pacific region. Details are provided later in this report.
Chapter 3. Peering Agreement with TEIN*CC
On July 29, 2025, ARENA-PAC and TEIN*CC, which operates Asi@Connect, signed a peering agreement aimed at advancing services for research and education networks (RENs) in the Asia-Pacific region and building a fast, resilient network service delivery framework. Under this agreement, the two parties will promote best practices in network design, redundancy, security, and operations, coordinate regional peering and traffic exchange among RENs, and exchange information on issues affecting REN networks.
Also under this agreement, ARENA-PAC began peering and route exchange with TEIN (AS24490) at its Singapore PoP starting in December 2025. Going forward, the two parties plan to discuss routing policy while working on network redundancy, resilience, and traffic optimization.
Chapter 4. Inauguration of the Penang–Singapore 100 Gbps Link
On September 17, 2024, in Penang, Malaysia, ARENA-PAC signed a cooperation agreement with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to strengthen collaboration on research and education network development with Malaysia. Building on this agreement, ARENA-PAC committed to strengthening its partnership with Malaysian research and education institutions, including USM, in support of research and education networks, the research and education activities conducted over them, and community development. Based on this agreement, ARENA-PAC formally began operating its Penang site in March 2025.
On August 14, 2025, ARENA-PAC co-hosted an inauguration ceremony with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). The ceremony was held at USM’s Eureka Complex and was chaired by Jun Murai of ARENA-PAC and Keio University. Attendees included USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Abdul Rahman Mohamed, along with prominent academic figures from within and outside Malaysia.
In the technical presentation, Dr. Yung-Wey Chong and Wei-Hong Bok of USM, together with Hirochika Asai of the ARENA-PAC/WIDE Project, introduced demonstrations utilizing ARENA-PAC’s 100 Gbps connectivity. The demonstrations included simultaneous large-scale research data downloads from multiple ARENA-PAC sites and a live demonstration of the link monitoring system.
Presentations on multinational research and education collaboration were also given by the following institutions:
- Distributed SOC: Real-time cyber-attack detection and joint response (Dr. Achmad Basuki, Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia; Dr. Shankar Karuppayah, USM)
- Convergence of data and content over ARENA-PAC links (Dr. Franz A. de Leon, Department of Science and Technology – Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI), Philippines)
- ARENA-PAC collaboration space for academia and industry (Yoko Murakami, Keio University)
Chapter 5. Announcement of a Research and Education Network Strategy for the Pacific Region
On December 11, 2025, ARENA-PAC announced the formal launch of its initiative to build a wide-area, high-capacity research and education network in the Pacific region, as part of its ongoing efforts.
Since its founding, ARENA-PAC has worked to enhance connectivity to key hubs for Asia’s research and education community. Working closely with national research and education networks (NRENs) and regional partners, it has driven the development of resilient network infrastructure across Southeast Asia and East Asia to support collaborative research and human resource development.
Building on this foundation, ARENA-PAC has adopted a new vision: “A Connected and Resilient Pacific: Where research, education, innovation, culture, health, and inclusion enabled by technology empower communities to thrive in harmony with their environment.” ARENA-PAC plans to further expand its mission into the Pacific region, where demand for reliable, high-capacity connectivity is rapidly growing.
Chapter 6. Conclusion
This report described the operation of ARENA-PAC, a wide-area, high-bandwidth backbone network for research and education in the Asia-Pacific region. Going forward, ARENA-PAC will continue to contribute to the development of the international Internet through its ongoing operations, joint research and demonstration experiments with universities and research institutions, and collaboration with APOnet, among other activities.