How PCCW Global is powering connectivity across the Belt and Road

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is reshaping connectivity across Asia, Africa and Europe, creating new opportunities for trade, innovation and digital growth. Last year saw record BRI engagement, with USD128.4 billion in construction contracts and around USD85.2 billion in investments.

As demand for resilient, high-capacity networks grows – fuelled by both traditional sectors like energy and logistics and emerging technologies such as AI, IoT and smart mobility – many regions still face geographical and infrastructure challenges.

PCCW Global is helping to bridge these gaps. Through subsea cables, IoT connectivity and satellite technologies, we are building the digital backbone of the Belt and Road, accelerating growth and enabling the next generation of global infrastructure.

Our involvement in these initiatives illustrate how we are working with partners to expand connectivity across BRI markets.

Expanding IoT connectivity through satellite technology

At last year’s Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong, PCCW Global signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Beijing Guodian High-Tech Technology Co., Ltd. (GDHT), a mainland China-based satellite IoT company. Together, we are developing satellite-based narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) services for Hong Kong, Macao and Belt and Road regions.

GDHT operates the TianQi IoT Satellite Constellation, mainland China’s first low-Earth-orbit IoT satellite system. With 37 satellites already launched, phase one of deployment is complete and the constellation is expanding to provide continuous global coverage. Its low-cost, low-power and long-range connectivity is ideal for IoT devices in industries such as agriculture, energy, marine and environmental management.

By combining GDHT’s satellite expertise with PCCW Global’s terrestrial infrastructure and cloud interconnection platform, the collaboration will extend IoT services to areas where traditional networks fall short, from pipelines and transport routes to remote agricultural and mineral sites. Console Connect’s Edge SIM will further enhance coverage, enabling seamless international connectivity.

As Frederick Chui, CEO of PCCW Global, noted: “Many large-scale infrastructure projects across Belt and Road regions require reliable connectivity, but terrestrial network coverage remains limited. Our collaboration with GDHT brings advanced satellite IoT technology to these regions, helping to address connectivity gaps and enhancing efficiency for enterprises.”

PCCW Global additionally supports IoT connectivity across the BRI through the China-Europe Railway Express, a critical 12,000km overland route spanning over 30 countries. Traditional cellular networks cover between 50% - 70%  of this vast corridor, leaving masses of blind spots across the Siberian wilderness and Gobi Desert.

To address the challenge of tracking cargo across the entire route, PCCW Global provides over 10,000 SIMs that seamlessly integrate terrestrial coverage with TianQi satellite IoT. This ensures continuous real-time tracking of high-value cargo and enables reliable remote segment connectivity, significantly improving logistics efficiency, security and visibility for BRI trade.

Advancing LEO satellite connectivity

PCCW Global is also strengthening its position in the low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite ecosystem through a strategic partnership with Spacesail (Shanghai Spacesail Satellite Technology Co., Ltd.), one of China’s rapidly expanding LEO constellation alongside operators such as Starlink, OneWeb and Amazon Leo.

Targeting Belt and Road markets, the collaboration combines Spacesail’s growing LEO satellite network and PCCW Global’s extensive global terrestrial infrastructure and gateway expertise to deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband services to underserved regions.

Since initial discussions in mid-2024, the partnership has progressed steadily. Following the signing of an MOU in January 2026, both parties have actively collaborated on gateway station deployment. PCCW Global plays a critical role across both the ground and user segments of the ecosystem. This includes establishing gateway stations in BRI markets, providing global terrestrial backbone connectivity and acting as a distributor and system integrator for enterprise and consumer terminals.

Looking ahead, the two parties will continue joint efforts in the overseas network alignment and terminal testing. In the near future, the collaboration is expected to accelerate the rollout of reliable LEO broadband services across Belt and Road countries while creating significant long-term commercial opportunities.

Strengthening subsea cable infrastructure for the AI Era

While satellite connectivity is expanding access in  more remote regions, subsea cables remain the foundation of the digital economy. As a core component of the Digital Silk Road (DSR), subsea infrastructure plays a vital role in setting the standard for international digital connectivity under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Additionally, subsea cables are becoming even more critical in the AI era. AI workloads require high-capacity, low-latency connections to move vast datasets between data centres, cloud platforms and research hubs globally.

PCCW Global continues to play a leading role in developing this  infrastructure through consortium memberships and strategic partnerships supporting major subsea cable projects. One example is the Asia–Africa–Europe-2 (AAE-2) subsea cable system. In collaboration with Sparkle, Telecom Egypt and Zain Omantel International (ZOI), this next-generation project will link Hong Kong and Singapore to Italy, traversing secure terrestrial corridors across Thailand, the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.

AAE-2 will provide a geographically diverse, resilient and high-performance digital highway between three continents, supporting the future of cloud services, AI research and international trade.

Enabling intelligent Lower Airspace management

Connectivity is not only about what happens on land or under the sea. Increasingly, the skies above us are becoming part of the digital landscape as drones and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft begin to transform logistics and mobility. Managing these low-altitude flight paths requires intelligent digital systems.

At the Belt and Road Summit 2025, PCCW Global signed a strategic collaboration with IDEA-LASER, the Lower Air Space Economy Research Institute of the International Digital Economy Academy. Together, we are bringing OpenSILAS, a city-level intelligent airspace management system, to international markets.

Originally deployed in Shenzhen, SILAS integrates data from buildings, municipal infrastructure and administrative boundaries to provide real-time visibility and control of low-altitude flights. Through Console Connect, PCCW Global will help deliver OpenSILAS-as-a-Service, a cloud-based, AI-driven solution for safe and efficient low-altitude operations. This will support the scaled deployment of drones, eVTOLs and other smart mobility solutions worldwide.

Connecting the future

By combining robust infrastructure with innovative services, PCCW Global is helping address some of today’s most pressing connectivity challenges with:

• On-demand, programmable connectivity solutions designed to meet the growing needs of today's emerging technologies.

• A resilient global network, spanning subsea cables, satellites and Tier 1 IP infrastructure that seamlessly connects devices, data centres and clouds worldwide.

• Comprehensive SLAs that protect sensitive data and workloads, ensuring compliance, security and consistent performance.

Learn more about how our range of services help address today’s connectivity demands.