Myanmar-China fiber link established under GMS program

YANGON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- A fiber link between Myanmar and China has been set up as part of the information superhighway network (ISN) project of the six-country Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)-Economic Cooperation, a leading local weekly reported Wednesday.

  The establishment of the Myanmar-China fiber link would not only improve Myanmar's domestic information link system but also boost the country's information link with GMS member countries including China, the Yangon Times quoted the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications as saying.

There are 12 ISN fiber links being built across the GMS to boost information links. Of Myanmar's two ISN links respectively with China and Thailand, the link with China was built since April2007.

The commission into service of the Myanmar-China fiber link now would improve Myanmar's international telephone service, internet usage and video-conferencing utilization, the sources said.

The Myanmar-China fiber link was built across China's Kunming and Myanmar's Muse with its link further extended to reach the commercial city of Yangon.

The document on cooperation in implementation of the Myanmar section of the GMS ISN project and enhancement of cooperation between the two countries in the sector of information industry was inked between Myanmar and China during a visit to Myanmar by Chinese Minister of Information Industry Wang Xudong in April 2006.

The ISN project covers building of a commercialized information and communication platform in order to launch basic business of chatting, data, connection of internet as well as distant education, medical treatment, e-government and e-commerce which will sharply raise the capacity of the internet to promote the socio-economic development of the subregion.