Chile's Ministry of Communications said it would build a 20,000-24,000km link between Chile and China.submarine cableThe project may require $0.55 billion to $0.65 billion.

Huawei recently submitted a preliminary feasibility study to Chile's Ministry of Communications as part of an agreement signed in April. Based on the analysis by the Ministry of Communications, a full feasibility study could be the next step.

"Considering the complexity of the project, what we need to do now is to study how to move to the next stage," said Rodrigo Ramírez, head of the communications department."

The preliminary feasibility study considered three potential paths: Valparaiso-Juan Fernandez Islands-Easter Island-Auckland-Sydney-Shanghai; Valparaiso-Juan Fernandez Islands-Easter Island-Tahiti-Shanghai; and Punta Arenas-Auckland-Shanghai.

The trans-Pacific submarine cable project made its debut in February 2016 during a visit to China by Pedro Huichalaf, Chile's former Minister of Communications. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet once again proposed during her visit to China last month, during which Chile joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

"With this trans-Pacific cable, Chile will become a digital channel between Asia and Latin America," Ramírez said."

The fact that Chile holds a presidential election this year could delay the project or even put it on hold, said Patricio Soto, research manager for telecoms in Chile at IDC, recently.

Soto also questioned the logic of establishing a submarine cable to connect to Asia, as Chile is "well covered" from a connectivity perspective and the country's content consumption to Asia is quite limited. This item can be used as a backup at most.

Another submarine cable project in Chile, currently in the auction stage, is more likely to materialize. The $0.1 billion Fibra Austral project, a 3000-kilometer connection to Chile's southern hinterland, was rebooted in May to make it more attractive to potential investors. Previous auction attempts failed to attract investment and were abandoned last October.

Ramírez revealed last month that 26 companies had downloaded the bidding rules and were happy with the changes.

Bid offers for submarine cables will be received by July 17, while bid offers for land cables are due by July 3. The project contract will be awarded in October.