China Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom team for undersea cable

There have been signs recently that business relations between China and Taiwan are thawing a bit, and the latest evidence of that could be an undersea cable project pairing China Telecom and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom. The two national telcos in their respective countries are set to spend about $14.6 million on a cable extending from Xiamen, China, to Taiwan's Kinmen Island, published reports say.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the collaboration is the first of its kind between Chinese and Taiwanese telecom companies. However, as undersea cable activity in the Pacific has increased, both companies have been common members of several international undersea cable consortia, the most recent one being a regional undersea cable project unveiled last month involving several Asian carriers. It will take close to two years to complete this new project, and many details, such as ownership percentages and corporate approvals, still need to be worked out, the WSJ story says.

For more:
- The Wall Street Journal has this story [1]

Related articles
The Asia-Pacific Gateway submarine cable was announced last month [2]
The Trans-Pacific Express cable was turned on last year [3]