China Unicom opens two submarine optical cables: 100Gbps connecting Europe, Asia and Africa

Recently, China Unicom officially announced that the Asia-Europe 5 (SMW5) and Asia-Pacific Direct (APG) submarine optical cables have been officially opened and put into use recently.

After the two submarine cables were interconnected at the neutral POP (network service provider point) in Singapore, a high-bandwidth channel was opened up from Asian countries such as mainland China, Japan, and South Korea to Africa and Europe. The bandwidth reached 100Gbps (12.5GB/s), which is equivalent to transmitting two or three 720p high-definition movies in one second.

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The Asia-Pacific Direct Submarine Cable was financed and constructed by China Unicom in collaboration with domestic and foreign operators. It connects eight countries and regions including mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. The system has a designed capacity of over 54Tbps and extends directly to the neutral POP point in Singapore.

Among them, China Unicom provides a landing station in Shanghai Nanhui in China, and also has landing points in Shanghai Chongming and Hong Kong.

The Asia-Europe 5 submarine cable, in which China Unicom participated in the investment and construction, connects 19 countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, Italy and France. The backbone section has a designed capacity of 24Tbps and extends directly to neutral POP points in France, Italy and Singapore.

With the opening of these two submarine cables, China Unicom has extended the "Maritime Silk Road" to Japan and South Korea, opening a new era of the "Maritime Silk Road" information highway.

According to China Unicom's global network planning, the Asia-Europe 5 and Asia-Pacific direct submarine cables will also be connected to the soon-to-be-opened Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) submarine cable, realizing dual routing in the Asia-Africa-Europe direction and protecting each other.

The Asia-Europe-Africa 1 submarine cable will, together with the Asia-Europe 5 submarine cable, connect 14 countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France, and Italy, and also connect to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Türkiye.

The completion of these submarine cables will improve China Unicom's international network layout in Asia, Africa and Europe, reduce communication latency, and greatly enhance the communication capabilities and security of the overall network.