The agreement aims to maximise on the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Greater Bay Area development, and will foster a type of smart city project among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will collaborate in the areas of Internet of Things (IoT), smart city and artificial intelligence (AI) development. In addition, PCCW Global has created a wholly owned subsidiary in Hengqin New District to build and operate a next-gen IoT smart city R&D services platform, an international IoT operation platform as well as AI training in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area plus demonstration and operation centres.
Hengqin is situated 34 sea miles from Hong Kong and offers large trade and business potential. It is ideally located covering an area of 106.46 square kilometres and is less than an hour’s travel from Hong Kong through the newly built Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
Together PCCW Global and HENGTONG will direct the overall project. Huawei Marine, already signed on to build the initial segment of the project. The 12,000km, high-speed cable system is due to go live in early 2020 and once completed will offer the shortest routes from China to Europe and Africa. In addition, individual cable stakeholders will have the be able to design the network to their own specifications, without impacting others using the system.
