Google, Facebook new subsea cable to link Japan and SEA

Google and Facebook have announced that they will take part in the development of a new subsea cable system for 2024. This new system will improve internet connectivity set to improve internet connectivity across the Asia-Pacific region.

Tagged Apricot, the infrastructure project will connect Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, and Indonesia. It will also cater to the increased need for broadband access and 5G wireless connectivity in the region.

In March, Facebook announced two new transpacific subsea cables which will link Singapore to the US west coast, dubbed Bifrost and Echo, with Google also taking part in the latter.

Google announced in a news article that the Echo and Apricot cables are complementary submarine systems aimed to improve the resilience of Google Cloud and the firm’s other digital offerings.

The new fiber-optic cables linking the Asia-Pacific have an initial design capacity of over 190 terabits per second, according to Facebook.

Both Facebook and Google have ramped up investment in developing internet infrastructure in different regions they believe have the best growth potential. 

An example of that is Google’s US$10bn budget earmarked specifically to sponsor digitization efforts in India between the next five to seven years.