KT consortium completes trans-Pacific cable construction

SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- KT Corp., South Korea's largest fixed-line operator, said Monday it has completed construction of a high-speed undersea telecom cable across the Pacific with its overseas business partners.

In 2006, KT established an international consortium with carriers Verizon
Business of the U.S., China Telecom, China Netcom, China Unicon and Taiwan's
Chunghwa Telecom to build an 18,000-kilometer undersea cable linking South Korea,
China and Taiwan with the U.S., to meet growing demand for transpacific Internet
services.
The fiber-optic cable, named the Trans Pacific Express (TPC), has a data delivery
speed of 5.12 terabytes, capable of relaying data equal to 3,700 CD-ROMs per
second. It is approximately 70 times faster than the speed of the currently-used
U.S.-Korea undersea cable.
The new cable, which is scheduled to be used for commercial services starting
next year, will be extended to Japan in 2009 from investment by NTT
Communications by the end of 2009.
In an effort to become an international Internet service provider, KT has built a
series of international undersea cable networks, including the Russia-Japan-Korea
Cable System.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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