China Unicom deal taps into African telecommunications market

China Unicom, the second largest telecommunications service in China, will partner with its Cameroonian counterpart to help connect the central African country with the rest of the world.

On Thursday, China Unicom announced a co-construction of a submarine optical fibre cable system deal with Cameroon Telecommunications that will connect Cameroon with Brazil. The trans-Atlantic cable system will cover 6,000 miles and cost about $200 million.

China Unicom released a statement saying, "the project is expected to be put into use by the end of 2017. Africa and Latin America are seeing the fastest-growing demand for better telecommunication services. The deal marks an important step by China Unicom to tap into the two emerging markets."

Analysts expect China Unicom to use this opportunity to explore the African market, where many countries are still suffering from poor communication infrastructure.