Consortium of Facebook, Chinese companies pulls out of bid to build undersea internet cable between Hong Kong and US, citing Washington’s concerns
- Facebook spokesman says it has decided to withdraw application to Federal Communications Commission amid Washington’s concerns
- Last year, another undersea cable system proposed by Google and Facebook stalled after US Department of Justice suggested it bypass Hong Kong
A consortium involving Facebook and two Chinese state-owned companies has withdrawn its bid to build a new undersea internet cable link between the United States and Hong Kong following pressure from national security officials in Washington.
Experts warned that if the trend continued it could reduce the appeal of Hong Kong as a data centre.
“Due to concerns from the US government about direct communications links between the US and Hong Kong, we have decided to withdraw our FCC application,” a Facebook spokesman said in a statement to the Post, referring to the US Federal Communications Commission.
“We look forward to working with all the parties to reconfigure the system to meet the concerns of the US government.”
The social media giant and several telecommunications-industry partners first sought permission to build the fibre-optic cable in 2018 to connect California with Hong Kong and Taiwan.