China Plans Subsea Internet Cable to Rival US-led Project [UPSC Notes]

Chinese state-owned telecom companies are investing $500 million to build an undersea fiber-optic internet cable network.  This proposed network would extend from Asia to Europe via the Middle East, creating a direct rival to the U.S.-backed project. Read on to know more about Subsea Internet Cable planned by China to Rival US-led project, an important topic for the IAS exam.

 Subsea Internet Cable:

• Undersea cables are the key carriers of international internet traffic, with over 95% of it passing through them. 
• For many years, telecom and tech companies have collectively owned them to create vast networks that enable seamless data transmission worldwide. 
• These cables are vulnerable to espionage and sabotage, making them an instrument of influence in the escalating competition between China and the United States. 
• The United States and China are competing to dominate the cutting-edge technologies that could determine economic and military supremacy in the coming decades.
• The China-led EMA project intends to compete with a U.S.-based project called SeaMeWe-6 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-6), which will link Singapore to France via Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and several other countries along the route. 
• Initially, the SeaMeWe-6 consortium, which included China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and telecom carriers from several other nations, selected HMN Tech to build the cable. 
• However, last year, the contract was given to SubCom due to successful U.S. government pressure campaigns. 
• In December 2021, the U.S. Commerce Department imposed sanctions on HMN Tech, alleging that the firm intended to acquire American technology to modernize the People’s Liberation Army of China. 

About EMA (Europe-Middle East-Asia):

• China Mobile Limited, China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd (China Unicom), and China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), China’s three leading carriers, are planning the cable network. 
• They intend to create one of the world’s most extensive and advanced subsea cable networks.
• China’s proposed cable, known as EMA (Europe-Middle East-Asia), would start from Hong Kong, then move to China’s Hainan island province. 
• After that, it would stretch through Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and France to Singapore. 
• The estimated cost of the project is $500 million, and HMN Technologies Co Ltd will build and lay the cable. 
• The Chinese government will provide subsidies to the company, which is mainly owned by Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd listed in Shanghai.

Starting of EMA Project:

• The US department move made it impossible for owners of an HMN-built cable to sell bandwidth to US tech firms, who are their biggest customers, undermining the project’s viability.
• As a result, China Telecom and China Mobile withdrew from the project and, along with China Unicom, began planning the EMA cable. 
• The government of China owned three telecom companies will own more than half of the new network. The telecom firms are also making agreements with foreign partners.
• This year, the Chinese telecom firms signed agreements with four foreign telecoms, which includes France’s Orange SA, Pakistan’s PTCL, Telecom Egypt, and Zain Saudi Arabia. 
• They also had discussions with Singapore’s Singtel. 
• The Chinese firms are also reaching out to other countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to join their group.
• Typically, it takes at least three years for big underwater cable projects to go from planning to completion.
• The Chinese firms aim to finalize contracts by the end of this year and make the EMA cable operational by the end of 2025.

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