Ten thousand kilometers of international deep-sea optical cable annual shop

With the establishment of Sansha City in China, the marine industry in China has entered a new period of development. In recent years, abundant resources have been continuously found in the territorial waters of our country, which has laid a solid material foundation for China's sustainable development. However, the development of the ocean requires a lot of communication, which requires a higher carrying capacity. Obviously, wireless communication cannot meet this demand for large traffic. At the same time, international exchanges of information and economic exchanges continue to deepen, placing higher demands on international communications. Submarine fiber optic cable, as an important means of contemporary international communications, has undertaken 90% of international communications services and is the main carrier of global information and communications. It is also a new high profit growth point for China's optical fiber companies.

There is still a gap between China's cable construction model and the international

The submarine cable project is a complex system engineering. Its construction generally includes the selection of submarine cable routes, submarine cable line design, laying of submarine cables, system construction, and system acceptance. The most complicated is the submarine cable route selection, which mainly includes collection of data, desktop demonstration, route survey, risk assessment, environmental assessment, review and approval, etc. The complexity is self-evident. The submarine cable technology requires a safe and reliable system and a long service life, and can perform system optical transmission and conversion under a complex seabed environment. This determines that the construction of submarine optical communication systems requires companies or organizations with strong technical capabilities to implement them.

This market has long been occupied by European, American and Japanese companies. At present, only China’s Huawei strives to become an integrated provider of submarine optical communications systems and has the capability to undertake the construction of an international optical submarine communications system. Through vigorous development in recent years and participation in international engineering construction, Huawei has gradually occupied a place in the international submarine optical communications market.

At the same time, the biggest problem in the construction of submarine cable systems in China is the integration of submarine cable systems. At present, the international market adopts the submarine cable construction model in which the communication equipment contractor, optical cable manufacturing enterprise and construction unit jointly cooperate. In China, the submarine cable construction adopts the fragmentation mode, and the design institute and operator conduct preliminary demonstration and circuit design. Submarine cables and accessories are provided by submarine cable manufacturing companies, laid by submarine cable construction companies, and then integrated by owners or operators. This model is not conducive to the integration of system integration capabilities, is not conducive to the formation of one or two strong submarine cable system integrators, but also not conducive to China's submarine cable system to the international.

Submarine cable technology continues to break through, and Chinese companies face the "going out" dilemma

The production technology of submarine cable mainly includes special cable manufacturing for submarine cables, manufacture of stainless steel pipe light units for laser welding of submarine cables, manufacture of inner steel wire armor, manufacture of seamless copper pipes, extrusion of insulation layers, outer steel wire armoring, and outer layer Made of PP ropes and asphalt. Zhong Ke Technology Co., Ltd. chief engineer and Xie Shuhong, a professor of submarine cable research institute, said that in recent years, China's submarine optical fiber cable manufacturing companies represented by Zhongtian Science and Technology Cable have made major breakthroughs in submarine cable technology research. From the initial design and manufacturing of a single submarine cable product, the company has expanded its technology to submarine photoelectric fusion, underwater connection, cable factory transition, factory soft joints, submarine optical fiber monitoring and protection technologies, and has passed international UJ, UQJ certification, and has been major at home and abroad. Practical application in engineering. The production technology and overall solutions of Zhongtian Technology Cable have reached the international level. They have the technology and production capacity to provide relay submarine cable and relayless submarine cable system.

However, several major international communications equipment contractors, optical fiber cable manufacturing companies and construction companies have jointly formed a strategic alliance and have formed a monopoly, which raises the threshold of market competition and inhibits the development of submarine cable companies in other countries. At the same time, China's deep-sea optical fiber cable technology, equipment and design and construction capabilities are still insufficient, lack of industry integration, the lack of confidence in the capital market and other reasons led to China's deep-sea optical cable system is not recognized and trusted by international operators. Xie Shuhong said that operators and submarine cable manufacturers cannot start industry alliances in one way or the other. China's submarine cable “going out” requires Chinese operators to actively participate in the training of the domestic submarine cable industry chain, and cooperate with the submarine cable manufacturers, equipment contractors, and construction and maintenance units to form a submarine cable system general contractor and jointly drive The domestic optical cable industry is developing healthily and making every effort to enter the international market.

Although the shallow sea has been seized, the deep sea is still clamped

In February 2011, Zhongtian Technology signed a contract for the design and supply of submarine fiber cable projects with a telephone company in Alaska. The project was supported by the U.S. government and the length of the submarine cable was 160 kilometers. Huawei Ocean and China's cable manufacturing companies are also undertaking submarine cable construction in many countries. The submarine cables independently designed and developed in China have obtained access to international routes, but they have not been able to go directly to the international market. The implementation of Zhongtian Technology's submarine fiber optic cable project in the United States reflects from one aspect that Chinese companies are challenging the monopoly of international industry giants.

At the same time, the annual laying capacity of international deep-sea optical cables has reached a scale of nearly 10,000 kilometers. China has participated in the construction and investment of 18 international submarine optical cables, of which eight have landed in mainland China. However, the provision of deep-sea optical cables has been monopolized by multinational companies. For international deep-sea optical fiber cable communication lines, Chinese enterprises are still being restrained and so far have not been involved.