Herbert Smith Freehills advises China Telecom

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised China Telecom Global in relation to its role in a consortium which has agreed to build and operate a new Trans-Pacific submarine telecommunications cable worth approximately US$300 million.

The cable, known as FASTER, will be one of the fastest and highest capacity sub-sea cable systems in the world, transmitting data at 60 terabits per second. Designed to address the high demand for broadband, mobile, applications, content and enterprise data exchange on the Trans-Pacific route, the new cable will connect Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Oregon and Seattle to Chikura and Shima in Japan.

Herbert Smith Freehills partner Damien Bailey advised on the deal. He said: “It was great to be involved with another China Telecom project aimed at aiding its international expansion. Deals like this are a sign that there is ongoing strong demand for significant international connectivity.”

Construction of FASTER will begin immediately and the system is targeted to be ready for service during the second quarter of 2016.

Other members of the consortium include China Mobile International, Global Transit, Google, KDDI and SingTel.