China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and China Telecom are among those joining discussions about building a 10,500-kilometre fibre-optic link between Asia and Europe across the Arctic Circle, writes South China Morning Post. The controversial project also involves Finnish state-owned company Cinia and Japan, Russia and Norway. Cinia expects principle construction costs to be about EUR 700 million. The proposal aims to create the fastest data connection between Europe and China as soon as 2020.
Cinia Group has a prominent role in the so-called Northeast Passage cable project and is looking for partners, the paper said citing senior adviser with the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications, Marjukka Vihavainen-Pitkanen. China Telecom officials expressed interest in getting involved at a September meeting in Helsinki, Vihavainen-Pitkanen said.
