A consortium of Chinese companies is nearing completion of the 12,000-kilometer PEACE cable (Pakistan East Africa Connecting to Europe) that will deliver badly-needed bandwidth to large swathes of Africa. The capacity of the undersea cable is so large, in fact, that it can transport 90,000 hours of Netflix content EVERY SECOND.

While the project is led by Hengtong Group, one of China’s leading fiber optic and power cable makers, Huawei is also a major player which will no doubt spark concerns among governments in the U.S. and Europe. Huawei Marine was involved initially laying some of the cable on the ocean floor and will also build the landing stations in a number of countries.

SUGGESTED READING:

• Bloomberg BusinessWeek: China’s 7,500-Mile Undersea Cable to Europe Fuels Internet Feud by Helene Fouquet
• Nikkei Asia: China builds Digital Silk Road in Pakistan to Africa and Europe by Mifrah Haq