Facebook and Google Are Building New Undersea Cables to Link Southeast Asia and US
It looks like Facebook will be working together with Google to build new undersea cables to connect Southeast Asia to US. What exactly is going on and which countries are involved? Let’s find out.
Facebook and Google Are Building New Undersea Cables to Link Southeast Asia and US
Facebook has formally announced that they are planning to build two new undersea cables that will connect North America, Singapore, and Indonesia. To ensure the success of the project, they will be teaming up with Google and regional telcos, and it’s expected to exponentially increase internet connection capacity in the aforementioned regions.
The first undersea cable that will be completed in 2023 is called Echo. According to Vice President of Network Investments in Facebook, Kevin Salvadori, they will be building this together with Google and Indonesian telco XL Axiata. In case that name rings a bell, that’s because it’s a subsidiary of Malaysia’s own Axiata Group, the company behind Celcom.
As for the second undersea cable, it’s known as Bifrost and it’s estimated to complete by the year 2024. It will be built together with Telkom Indonesia subsidiary Telin, and Keppel from Singapore. However, Alcatel Submarine Networks will be in charge of the installation.
Both of these undersea cables that cross through the Java Sea is expected to increase transpacific capacity by 70%. It marks the first time that both Facebook and Google will be working together to build an undersea cable.
Pokdepinion: Would be interesting if this means there’s a possibility of being able to connect with people in the US with lower ping, especially in games. Now, if only they would extend this to Malaysia.
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