Huawei announced plans to build an undersea cable between Cambodia’s Sihanoukville and Hong Kong with Chinese state-owned firm China Communication Construction Co (CCCC) earlier this week. That’s despite, according to earlier reports, Huawei was seeking to give up shares in its undersea cable subsidiary, Huawei Marine.
Mark Wong, Huawei Cambodia’s CEO, said the undersea cable project would provide Cambodia reliable and improved connectivity. But Wong did not mention the project’s starting and completion dates, according to the Khmer Times.
In response to Huawei and the CCCC’s plan, the Cambodian telecoms regulator said neither company has yet been granted a license to install undersea cables in the country.
Huawei’s Hong Kong-based joint venture Huawei Marine seemed to have the license to build undersea cables. Huawei Marine built Cambodia’s first undersea cable, Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand Submarine Cable, in 2017.
It’s not clear from the Khmer Time’s report through which entity Huawei plans to build this cable. The Chinese telecoms equipment and phone maker was reportedly planning to sell its undersea cable business to Heng Tong Optic-Electric, a Shanghai-listed optical communication network producer, due to increasing pressure from the United States.
And Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei said last week the company had long planned to sell its undersea cable business even before trade tensions grew between China and the US.
Earlier last this year, Huawei signed an agreement with the Cambodian government to participate in the 5G network development in the country.