Korea, Japan to lay undersea fiber optic cable network

Korea and Japan will lay an ultra high-speed fiber optic cable link under the Korea Straits. The installation of the Korea-Japan cable network (KJCN) is scheduled to begin in late April for completion in March next year, in time for the kick-off of the 2002 soccer World Cup, co-hosted by the two countries.

Korea Telecom (KT) signed Tuesday a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its Japanese partners, and said that the line would enable quick, real-time broadcasts of games between Korea and Japan and provide extra capacity for expected increases in Internet traffic.

KT, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), Japan Telecom and Kyushu Electric Power Co. will join in the KJCN project, which will cost about $40 million.

KT and its Japanese partners plan to lay the fiber optic cables across a 250 km undersea area, the shortest direct route between the two countries. The 12 pairs of fiber optic cables are expected to have a data processing capability of 3.84 terabits per second (Tbps), which is equivalent to sending 6.4 million newspaper pages per second.

[Yonhap]