Companies to champion telecom infra creation

China's Belt and Road Initiative offers excellent opportunities for the countries involved to improve their telecommunication network infrastructure with Chinese investment, said officials and company executives during the third World Internet Conference.

The initiative is the Chinese government's attempt to strengthen regional and global cooperation and meet the development needs of countries and regions along the Belt and Road route, said Chen Zhaoxiong, vice minister of industry and information technology, while addressing a forum on "Belt and Road Information Technology" at the conference.

"The information and communication network has become important infrastructure" and "it's of great significance" to discuss "network construction, services and applications and digital economy" to deepen exchanges and cooperation, and push forward the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

The Belt and Road Initiative covers 4.4 billion people in 65 countries and regions across three continents. Most of the countries, however, are developing or emerging economies that lag in information and telecom infrastructure, said Yang Xiaowei, general manager of China Telecommunications Corporation.

He said it is the mission of the Chinese telecom operators to narrow the "gap" between latest technology and people without access to it, and make people all over the world part of the information civilization.

To fulfill the mission, China Telecom will give priority to building four cross-country high-speed information corridors, including one in Africa, to help countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative to improve their data transmission quality, he said.

With the experience of building an optic fiber cable network in China, the company will proactively participate in the construction of a network in Africa that will connect 48 countries with a collective population of 1 billion.

A forum - "Network Connection Promotes Heart Connection" - at the conference sought to build consensus on development, and stressed the need to intensify cooperation for building better communication infrastructure that can boost trade exchanges and cultural ties.

The ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives, was launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013 to string vast transcontinental swathes with a common economic thread. The initiatives have helped companies worldwide to expand their business and access new markets.