Six telecos complete FO cable link across Pacific

NEW YORK, USA: Six of the world's biggest telecommunications companies have completed construction of the high-speed fiber-optic (FO) cable across the Pacific Ocean, reported The Wall Street Journal today, quoting South Korea's telecommunication service provider KT Corp.

The 18,000-kilometer cable will link the U.S., China, South Korea and Taiwan, the report said. Aimed to improve Internet and other telecommunication traffic, this cable network will provide an alternative to the single low-capacity cable that links mainland China and the U.S.

According to WSJ, the project with an estimated cost of $500 million was signed by Verizon Communications Inc., KT, three Chinese operators -- China Telecom Corp., China Netcom Group Corp. (Hong Kong) Ltd., and China Unicom Ltd. – apart from Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Co. Later, AT&T Inc. and Japan's NTT Communications Corp also joined the group.

Last year, Singapore Telecommunications, Google, and four other companies had also announced a similar plan for the underwater communications link across Pacific, as the Internet traffic between the United States and Asia is surging day by day.