ISLAMABAD – An optical fibre cable project that would be the firstland-based communication link between China and Pakistan has been launched.
Pakistan caretaker Prime Minister Nasirul Mulk on Friday inaugurated thePakistan-China Optical Fibre Cable project that has been completed in twoyears and will help develop the telecom sector in Gilgit-Baltistan region.
The link will also contribute to enhance security of the schemes fallingunder the umbrella of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The project includes an 820-km-long underground optical fibre cable (OFC)from Rawalpindi to Khunjerab and a 172-km aerial OFC link from Karimabad toKhunjerab.
The project, launched as part of the CPEC, also has 26 high-capacitymicrowave links as backup to the OFC network and nine node centres indifferent locations.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the project, Mulk said: “The projectwill contribute to provision of state-of-the-art ICT (information andcommunication technologies) facilities to far-flung areas of the country.”
Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing said at the inauguration that OFC was one ofthe nine projects to be completed under the CPEC.
He said the CPEC would have a digital corridor as well. The directorgeneral of the Special Communication Organisation, Maj Gen Amir Azim Bajwa,said a communication link had been established with the Chinese side on theborder that had been successfully tested for end-to-end connectivity.
The project would “play a pivotal role for security requirements of CPECprojects”, Dawn quoted Mulk as saying.