Hong Kong · Google · China · State Department · U.S. · Rest of World
Chile turned to China for an undersea cable
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 source. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
On the morning of February 20, 2026, Juan Carlos Muñoz, then Chile’s minister of transportation and telecommunications, woke up to an email from the U.S. State Department.
Key facts
- Chile’s telecom ministry had initially approved China Mobile’s proposal for the 20,000-kilometer (12,000-mile) Chile-China Express cable in January 2026
- The 14,800-kilometer (9,200-mile) Humboldt cable is expected to become operational by 2027
- Elsewhere in the region, while Meta’s Malbec subsea cable connects the Southern Cone and Brazil, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is also backing a plan to build a 35,000-kilometer
- On the morning of February 20, 2026, Juan Carlos Muñoz, then Chile’s minister of transportation and telecommunications, woke up to an email from the U.S. State Department
Summary
The U.S. sanctioned Chilean officials for assessing a proposal from China Mobile for a subsea cable connecting to Hong Kong. Google’s undersea cable linking Chile to Australia is expected to be operational in 2027. State Department. At the time, the three officials were assessing a $500-million proposal by state-owned telecom company China Mobile, to link Valparaíso and Hong Kong by an undersea cable. “It prevents me from visiting a country that is important to my work and … serves as a central hub for international air connections,” he said.