Contributors
Tokyo, Japan, 19th October 2026 - Colt Technology Services GK, a global digital infrastructure company, today announced the launch of Tohan Platinum Connect, a new third route added to Colt’s West Japan network which has been expanded through a total investment of ¥15 billion since 2023. The new route connects Tokyo and Osaka with lower latency and will be offered from spring 2027.
Because this route is shorter than the existing coastal and inland routes already available, it enables approximately 30% latency reduction, as well as offering high availability of network based on the highly reliable infrastructure. The company will initially achieve a data transfer capacity of approximately 25 Tbps, and plans to expand it progressively based on customer needs. In addition, Colt plans to significantly expand bandwidth capacity on the mountainside route in January 2027 for enterprise customers and hyperscalers that prioritise network redundancy. This expanded bandwidth generates additional 25 Tbps data transfer capacity, totalling 50 Tbps, including the 25Tbps generated by Tohan Platinum Connect.
In recent years, Japanese companies as well as global enterprises and hyperscalers expanding into Japan have been seeking high capacity networks purpose-built for AI workloads. To address the growing demand for next generation networking driven by cloud adoption, data-intensive workloads, and AI applications, organisations are expected to provide broader and more scalable solutions that deliver the bandwidth, security, and flexibility required by these evolving environments.
In August 2023, Colt announced its three year ¥15 billion investment plan focused on establishing its own network in West Japan, and since then has continued to build and enhance network infrastructure across the region. In December last year, Colt announced the launch of services across its full West Japan network. Additional milestones include the planned opening of metropolitan networks in Hiroshima and Okayama by the end of this year, and in Fukuoka next January. Colt is currently working to strengthen regional infrastructure west of Osaka through the addition of 22 new sites (POP)s, including those of the above three city networks.
Tohan Platinum Connect is being introduced to meet requests from financial institutions, other carriers, and data center providers, for lower‑latency long‑haul connectivity as Colt expands its long‑distance network between Tokyo and Osaka (over 500 km). The service uses optical fibre deployed along the lower latency route and is planned for launch in spring 2027.
Regarding the announcement of Tohan Platinum Connect, Kentaro Terado, Director, Asia Service Delivery at Colt, commented:
“At Colt, our team of around 500 people across Asia has always taken pride in moving fast, responding quickly and flexibly to our customers’ needs. Tohan Platinum Connect builds on that legacy. Combined with our fully built network in West Japan, it allows us to meet customers’ growing demand for low latency, high capacity connectivity - capabilities that are absolutely essential as they accelerate into the AI economy.”
Colt is also expanding its global network capabilities by investing in transatlantic and transpacific subsea cables, enabling the company to deliver seamless, end to end connectivity from point A - where customers’ data originates - to point B, where the data is delivered.
Across the Atlantic, Colt began offering services in February this year via the Marea subsea cable, which connects Virginia Beach on the U.S. East Coast with Bilbao in northern Spain; a new high capacity fibre route linking major Atlantic cable landing stations; and a backbone network connecting Ashburn, Virginia - known as Data Center Alley- with New York and Virginia Beach.
Across the Pacific, in May of this year Colt also began using Juno, one of the world’s newest and most advanced subsea cables which connects Tokyo and Los Angeles. Juno has landing stations in Minamiboso (Chiba Prefecture), Shima (Mie Prefecture), and Grover Beach, California.
Regarding the West Japan network expansion and Colt’s activation of transatlantic and transpacific subsea cables, Yasutaka Mizutani, Global CMO and Senior Advisor for Asia at Colt Technology Services, commented:
“Since the establishment of KVH in 1999, we have worked to build our own network infrastructure in Japan. With our expansion into West Japan beginning in 2023, we have been striving to become a network service provider capable of covering the entire country. Tohan Platinum Connect is part of this ambition. Going forward, we intend to continue delivering seamless network services across the Pacific and Atlantic to support global enterprises whose A end and B end locations are in Japan or overseas.”
Mizutani continued: “Colt will continue to progressively expand its service availability across Western Japan and remains committed to making proactive investments in other regions as well. Japan and Asia will continue to be strategically important growth markets for Colt for years to come. We remain fully committed to supporting both our customers in Japan and global enterprises expanding into the Japanese market, helping them achieve their business objectives through our network and digital infrastructure solutions.”
