Li Yanting

Chinese International Optical Cable Interconnection

and Proposal for this Project

China Academy of Information and Communications Technology

CONTENTS

1 Future Trend in International Optical Cable

2 Present of International Optical Cable in China

3 Chinese Proposal for this Project

Submarine Optical Cables Vital for International

Communications

Page 3

⚫ The earth's geography necessitates

submarine optical cables for effective

international communications.➢ No land routes between Oceania and

the American and Eurasian continents.

➢ Only 44 landlocked countries out of

nearly 200 countries

➢ Over 95% of international traffic is

transmitted through submarine cables.

⚫ The leading role of submarine cables in international communication will not change.➢ Satellite: bandwidth is limited, making it unsuitable for serving many users. Useful for remote islands and

landlocked countries.

➢ Terrestrial cable: lower construction and maintenance costs, but cross-border deployments have not been

successful so far.

➢ For central Asia countries, one of the most important issues for improving the international connectivity

is to strengthen the cooperation for cross-border terrestrial cables connection within this subregion.

Fierce Competition in Global Submarine Cable Market

Page 4

⚫ Resources, policies, and geography foster

submarine cable centers. ➢ US: world's top Internet companies, rich content

resources, aggregation of global Internet traffic

➢ Hong Kong and Singapore: location

advantages, open economies, well-developed

service industries

➢ Japan, UK

⚫ New markets are proactively challenging the

submarine cable business landscape.➢ Thailand: 5 billion Thai baht to CAT Telecom to

develop new paths

➢ Finland: promoting Arctic submarine cable

construction

➢ Chile: planning to reach China's transoceanic

submarine cable and directly connect to Asia

➢ India: Tata Communications acquired Tyco, and

continues to expand its network

USA

UK, Germany,

etc.

Singapore

Hong Kong

Japan

Internet Giants Become New Forces in the

Submarine Cable Club Consortium

Page 5

⚫ Club consortium is still the main mode

of international submarine cable

construction➢ Telecoms

➢ Benefit & cost sharing

➢ Business sources

➢ Members handle their own country's

permits

⚫ Internet giants become an important force➢ Meeting interconnection needs of global

Internet data centers

➢ Participating in the construction of more than

15 cables.

Big

TelecomsInternet

Giants

Club

Consortium

Strong Collaboration Between Submarine Cables

and Data Centers

Page 6

⚫ Internet traffic dominates the global

submarine network architecture.➢ Traditional services: voice and private line

circuits use Kbit/s- or Mbit/s-level bandwidth

➢ New services: Internet uses Gbit/s or even

Tbit/s-level bandwidth

➢ Global traffic flows to Internet content centers

in the US and Europe

⚫ Global data center interconnection affects

submarine cable construction.➢ Cloud computing and high granularity boost

data centers.

➢ Data center interconnection is required for

high bandwidth, high granularity, rapid growth,

flexibility, and agility.

Cross-border Terrestrial Cables and Submarine

Cables in China

7

⚫ Cross-border terrestrial cables connect to neighboring countries➢ 12 countries, 17 border crossings

➢ 70 TB+ bandwidth

⚫ Key international submarine cable access countries and regions➢ 4 landing points, 9 landing cables

➢ 40 TB+ bandwidth

➢ Cables reach North America, Asia, Europe, etc

⚫ Actively participate in the construction of non-landing submarine cable➢ SMW5，FASTER。。

Strengthening International Cooperation and

Exploring the Submarine Cable Connection Mode

8

⚫ China can play a larger role in:➢ Establishing more information channels

to the West.

➢ Providing cable connections to

countries such as Kazakhstan,

Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia.

⚫ ITU-T GS3➢ Study of Tariff, Charging Issues of

Settlements Agreement of Trans-multi-

country Terrestrial Telecommunication

Cables

⚫ Submarine and terrestrial cable cooperation improve Internet access of landlocked

countries.

Ever-increasing Flow of International Interactions

Stimulates Rapid Development of Information Flow

9

Tourism➢ Outbound: 131 million, up

6.9% YoY

➢ Inbound: 139 million, up 0.8%

YoY

Capital➢ China's annual FDI has grown for

15 consecutive years, reaching

196 billion USD, up to 34.7% YoY

➢ 37,200 FDI enterprises in 190

countries/areas

Source: CTA, 2017 Source: MOFCOM, 2016

Products➢ Import: 12.46 trillion RMB, up

to 18.7% YoY

➢ Export: 15.33 trillion RMB,

up to 10.8% YoY

Source: GACC, 2017

Region 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

North America 46% 45% 35% 26% 25% 25%

Asia Pacific 47% 39% 47% 34% 44% 38%

Europe+ Africa 50% 33% 45% 28% 41% 33%

Growth rates of China's Internet traffic by region (YoY) (38%)

Overseas Business Development of Chinese Internet

Enterprises Increases Demand for International Bandwidth

10

Alibaba Cloud's 18 global data centers

40+ countries1 billion users

870 million users

(552 million in China)

Internet applications

Internet infrastructure

Chinese Proposal for the Project

⚫ In principle, China supports the project.

⚫ China would like to share our development experience and best practices

related to this project.

⚫ We suggest that the participating countries should pay much attention on the

practical requirement from the enterprises and end-users for this project.

12

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Presentation Title Version 1.0Aug. 29, 2018

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