Asia-Pacific Optical Cable Work Starts in ChinaChinese workers Tuesday started on Chongming Island near Shanghai construction of the No.2 Asia-Pacific optical cable that will connect China with other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and Americas.Initiated by a dozen telecommunications companies from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and North America, the optical cable will link the Chinese mainland, Japan, ROK, China's Taipei and Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, and will join the existing Sino-American and Eurasian seabed optical cables upon completion. The cable will have a total length of 16,000 km and will land at Chongming Island and Shantou of South China's Guangdong Province on the Chinese mainland. The project will cost 3.3 billion US dollars. An engineer in charge of the construction said that, in accordance with the requirements of the China Telecom Group, the civil engineering part of the project is expected to be finished and ready for equipment installation by the end of the year. The No.2 Asia-Pacific optical cable will be ready for telecommunications service in the first half of 2001. By then, Shanghai will be connected to five international seabed optical cables and will become a global center for the flow of information. |
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