Trans-Pacific Express
The Trans-Pacific Express is a telecommunications project to connect the United States with China with a fiber-optic cable that is designed to meet increasing internet traffic between the regions, with 60 times more capacity than existing cables. It is to be the first undersea or submarine telecommunications cable that directly links the US with China and the first independent trans-Pacific connection. Current cable links between China and the US run through Japan.
The project includes US Verizon Communications, Chinese firms China Telecom, China Netcom and China Unicom, South Korea's Korea Telecom and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom. The project was initiated in December 2006. Work began in mid-October 2007 in Qingdao. It is scheduled to be completed by July 2008 (before the Beijing Olympics).
Earthquake hotspots have been avoided in the planned route of the cable to avoid potential disruption to internet and telephone networks in Asia. The cable will extend more than 18,000 km and will cost about $500m. It will terminate in Nedonna Beach, Oregon with connections to Taiwan and South Korea. When complete, the new cable will be able to support the equivalent of 62 million simultaneous phone calls, with the design capacity to support future internet growth and advanced applications such as video and e-commerce.
Read more about this topic: Telecommunications In The People's Republic Of China
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