Huawei Wants to Construct First Fiber-Optic Cable Between Asia and South America

Huawei Technologies said on August 28 that it was “very actively” interested in building the first undersea fibre-optic cable between South America and Asia, Reuters reports.

David Dou Yong, Huawei’s chief executive in Chile, told Reuters that the company was eagerly following the public tender process initiated by Chile in July and would participate when bids were invited for the trans-Pacific cable construction.

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“This bidding process has several steps … We are ready and we will follow the process until the bid to select a vendor starts and for sure we will be part of the tender process.” he told the news agency in an interview.

The move would represent Huawei’s first major asset sale since the United States accused the Chinese firm of espionage, raising doubts about Huawei’s potential interests around the world including the undersea cable construction projects.

Asked for clarification about the reported sale of the submarine cable business and its implications, the company’s head of public affairs, Weiqiang Zou, said the deal is not confirmed and that no final decision has been made as of yet.

Dou Yong told Reuters there are no agreements in place with the government yet but that Huawei will keep pressing for state business.

“We look at Chile as the benchmark for the whole of Latin America,” he said.