日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

China Unicom may join undersea cable venture

By Wang Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-20 07:54

China Unicom, Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom and Japan's KDDI Corp are reportedly planning to spend $500 million to build a new submarine communications cable in the Asia-Pacific region.

Related readings:  China Unicom to spend 95b yuan on networks in 2009   China Unicom chairman sees 'golden time' for 3G services  China Unicom to buy 6.43b yuan in assets

The Commercial Times, citing unnamed Chunghwa Telecom sources, reported yesterday that the three companies were in talks with Singapore Telecommunications and its local rival Starhub to lay the Asia-Pacific Cable Network 3 (APCN3).

The Taiwan newspaper said once the Singapore partner was selected, the four companies would sign a memorandum of understanding on the project as early as next month.

The 1,000-km undersea cable, which stretches from Singapore to Japan through Taiwan is likely to be completed by 2013, according to the newspaper. It said the APCN3 would have a larger capacity than the 10-year-old APCN2, which breaks down frequently.

Yi Difei, a China Unicom spokesman, however refuted the report. "The discussions have been preliminary and there has been no plan yet," he said.

Carrying Internet traffic and long-distance calls, undersea cables are one of the major channels for international telecommunications. But its vulnerability to natural disasters have worried telecom operators greatly.

In 2006, an earthquake cut several submarine cables near the southern coast off Taiwan, shutting down or slowing the Chinese mainland's access to overseas websites and international calls. It took China Telecom and China Netcom, which was acquired by China Unicom last year, nearly 30 days to repair the network.