China has begun laying a fiber optic cable worth US$500 million to the US that will be vital in meeting booming Internet traffic between the two nations, state press reported yesterday.
The "Trans Pacific Express" cable will directly link China with South Korea, Taiwan and the US, greatly increasing Internet speeds between the regions, the China Daily reported.
Work laying the cable began in the coastal city of Qingdao on Monday, with completion of the trans-oceanic line scheduled for next July, the paper said.
The terminus of the cable, which will also be able to transmit high definition television signals during the Beijing Olympics, will be in Nedonna Beach, Oregon, it said.
Current US-Chinese cable links run through Japan, but Beijing sees Tokyo as a regional rival and has long wanted an independent connection to the US.
The new cable is expected to help avoid breakdowns in trans-oceanic Internet traffic similar to what occurred following a 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck the seabed near Taiwan on Dec. 26, snapping undersea telecom cables.
The quake caused major communications disruptions in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and elsewhere.
Investors in the new cable include US telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc, Chinese companies China Telecom Ltd (中國電信), China Netcom Ltd (中國網通) and China Unicom Ltd (中國聯通), as well as Korea Telecom Corp and Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), reports said.
The cable is to have connections to South Korea and Taiwan but none to Japan, according to its developers.
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