I think TM is doing the right thing. The way intercontinental cable systems work is that major telco operators SHARE the cost of construction and maintenance of the network. So, since the cable is expected to run from SE Asia all the way to the West Coast of the USA, paying $50m is proportionate to the SHARE of the bandwidth that TM will get. Bear in mind that bandwidth allocation is also a function of reciprocity i.e. how much traffic originates and terminates between destinations.