Google has announced plans to expand its infrastructure development programme with three undersea cables to improve the speed and capacity of internet data links between Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Ben Treynor Sloss, the vice president of Google’s cloud platform, said Google is planning to commission three cables in 2019.
These will consist of Curie, a private cable connecting Chile and Los Angeles; Havfrue, a consortium cable connecting the US to Denmark and Ireland; and another consortium cable between Hong Kong and Guam Cable, which will improve links between subsea communication hubs in Asia.
Google has spent $30bn in the past three years on improving its network, which it says may carry as much as 25% of the world’s internet traffic, including all PayPal data.
The company is in a race with other tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft to offer the best cloud computing services.
The Curie cable will be designed and constructed by Google, and will be used to improve the company’s cloud computing services across Latin America.
Havfrau – Danish for "mermaid" – will be built with Facebook, Aqua Comms and Bulk Infrastructure. The marine route is presently being surveyed and the laying is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
In the Pacific, it is working with Japanese tech company NEC to create what Sloss calls "multiple scalable, diverse paths to Australia" and increase network capacity at its newly formed Hong Kong region.
When all three cables are laid, they will bring Google’s total number of links to 11.
Image: A map of the world’s undersea cables (www.submarinecablemap.com)
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