*BEIJING – Pakistan and China achieve yet another milestone as the twocountries get connected through World’s highest 2,950 optic cable networkwhich the Chinese experts term as the Suez canal like project.*
*The “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) digital information channel”,based on China-Pakistan optical cable, and serving the CPEC and globalcustomers and partners were fully connected, said a top Chinese official.*
Zhang Zhiyong, deputy general manager of China Telecom Group Co., Ltdinformed the participants of 6th China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi that ChinaTelecom will use the opening of China-Pakistan optical cable as anopportunity to expand the field of communication cooperation and jointlypromote the construction of a series of core projects of the China-PakistanInformation Corridor with Pakistani partners.
Close economic cooperation provides a solid information and communicationguarantee, while information technology contributes to the digitaltransformation of the society and the development of the digital economy.
Speaking on the occasion, Tan Yijun, Executive Vice President of ChinaTelecom International Co., Ltd said that on July 13 this year, the2,950-kilometer-long China-Pakistan optical cable from Urumqi to Rawalpindiwas fully connected and tested well.
According to Belt Road Initiative website, the Pakistan-China Optical FibreCable project provides 3G and 4G services to Pakistan. The cable spans adistance of 2,950 kilometers, connecting Rawalpindi (Punjab) with Khunjerab(Gilgit Baltistan) at the Chinese border at a height of 4,700 metres abovethe sea level, northwards to Urumqi in Xinjiang Autonomous Region (China).
The large channel of digital information in the corridor was officiallycompleted and put into commercial use, which greatly shortened the delaybetween China and Pakistan and international communications.
In the past, the communication between Beijing and Islamabad passed throughthe submarine cable, and the delay was 180 milliseconds; now, through theChina-Pakistan optical cable, the delay is only 81.8 milliseconds. This isof great significance to industries such as multinational financialtransactions and telemedicine.
The construction company of the China-Pakistan cable network, the generalmanager of the Pakistan Special Communications Organization, Ali Farhan,compared the optical cable to the Suez Canal in the history oftelecommunications.
According to him, Pakistan’s special communication organization will alsocooperate with Pakistan’s largest telecommunications operator, PakistanTelecom Co., Ltd., to connect land cables and submarine cables across Asiaand Europe through Pakistan, and promote interconnection between China andCentral Asia, Europe and Africa.