Telecoms giants complete transpacific-cable project
Published: 30 Sep 2008 08:30 BST
A crucial, undersea fibre-optic cable that will provide more internet capacity between the US and China was completed on Monday, according to reports.
Six of the world's largest phone companies have finished building an 18,000km 'Trans-Pacific Express' cable that will link the US, China, South Korea and Taiwan, according to the Dow Jones News Service.
The high-speed link will provide more capacity for the region, which is currently served by a single low-capacity cable that provides connectivity between mainland China and the US. Most web traffic between the US and China goes through Hong Kong or Japan. These routes can often cause transmission delays.
The project, which cost about $500m (£277m), was prompted when an earthquake off Taiwan's coast in December 2006 severed several undersea data cables, resulting in disrupted communications throughout much of Asia. The world's largest phone companies decided to provide more infrastructure to the region.
US phone giant Verizon Communications joined forces with Korean phone company KT and Taiwanese Chunghwa Telecom, as well as with three Chinese phone companies: China Telecom, China Netcom Group and China Unicom. The cost of the project was divided evenly among the six partners, according to KT.
AT&T and Japan's NTT Communications have also joined the group. They plan to invest more in the project to extend the cable to Japan.
Credit: Transpacific undersea cable completed from CNET News.com
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