Background

The Sino-ROK submarine fiber-optic cable system, jointly built by the Telecommunications Bureau under the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Korea Communications of the Republic of Korea (ROK), is scheduled to be put into operation at the end of 1995. The system which is up to the advanced world level extends from Qingdao of China and Taean of the ROK, With 550 kilometers of cable for 7,560 communication lines, it is an important channel for the international communication lines of China to enter the international communication network in the Pacific.

The submarine fiber-optic cable is the first of its kind between China and the ROK and the second international submarine fiber-optic cable of China. China's first such cable was opened in December 1993. Construction of the Sino-ROK submarine fiber-optic cable system is under-taken by Sino-British Submarine System Co. Ltd., a joint venture between the Telecommunications Bureau and the Cable & Wireless P.L.C. of Britain set up in 1994. The joint venture is China's most powerful company engaged in marine telecommunications facilities construction. The Fulai No.3 of the company is a 5,000-ton class of submarine cable vessel up to international standards at present. It can carry cables as long as thousands of kilometers and operate for more than one month at the sea in one voyage. Equipped with advanced computer-controlled dynamic position systems, the vessel can keep itself in a state of relative rest without dropping anchor.

The submarine fiber-optic cable system is the first international project of its king undertaken by a Chinese company independently. It indicates that China has been able to engage in the construction of international submarine fiber-optic cable project and to compete in the international market of such projects.

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