• The 5,746km SEA-H2X cable has eight trunk fibre pairs and more than 200Tbps of design capacity
  • SHV-HK would provide the first direct Cambodia-Hong Kong submarine connection, but it has not yet entered commercial service

The fact

China Mobile said SEA-H2X entered commercial service on 22 July after completing acceptance testing. The 5,746km cable connects Hong Kong and Singapore, with branches to Hainan, Thailand, and the Philippines. It has eight fibre pairs on the main trunk and a design capacity above 200Tbps. China Mobile led the consortium with China Unicom and Converge ICT Solutions. Construction began in 2022, and the original 2024 service target was delayed by weather and permitting issues.

China Unicom Global said the nearly 3,000km SHV-HK cable landed at its Tseung Kwan O station in Hong Kong on 20 July. Developed with Cambodia's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, the 80Tbps system is intended to provide the first direct submarine connection between Cambodia and Hong Kong. The landing is a construction milestone; China Unicom has not announced commercial service or a ready-for-service date.

The assessment

SEA-H2X has moved from construction to saleable infrastructure. Consortium members can now activate capacity, connect landing stations to domestic networks and provision routes for customers. SHV-HK has only reached Hong Kong. Until the remaining marine work, testing, and inland backhaul are complete, its 80Tbps design figure is not capacity carriers can yet buy.

Commercial availability will depend on how much capacity each owner activates and where traffic can enter terrestrial networks. Service options may therefore differ by owner, landing point and customer agreement. SHV-HK could add a direct Cambodia–Hong Kong path, but that route will depend on both ends of the system being ready.

The gap between landing and service matters for carriers and hyperscalers planning redundancy across Asia. Physical presence at a landing station does not guarantee usable capacity; inland connectivity and commercial terms determine whether a cable can support end-to-end traffic.

What to watch

Watch for SHV-HK's cable completion, acceptance testing and ready-for-service date, plus confirmation that Cambodian and Hong Kong backhaul is operational. For SEA-H2X, carrier service announcements, activated capacity and new data centre connections will show how the system is being used.