Transpacific undersea cable completed

Six of the world's biggest telecommunications companies have completed the construction of a high-speed undersea telecommunications cable system across the Pacific. The fiber-optic cable, called Trans-Pacific Express, will directly link the U.S., China, South Korea and Taiwan. The 18,000 kilometer undersea cable will offer an alternative to the single low-capacity cable that now provides the only direct link between mainland China and the U.S. Currently, most Web traffic between the two countries has to go through Hong Kong or Japan, at times causing transmission delays. The $500 million project was signed in December 2006 by Verizon and its partners; KT Corp., China Telecom, China Netcom Group, China Unicom and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom.