Facebook and Google this week unveiled a new subsea cable that will connect Singapore, Japan, Guam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Indonesia.
Expected to launch in 2024, the submarine system (still subject to regulatory approvals) aims to “deliver much-needed internet capacity, redundancy, and reliability to expand connections in the Asia-Pacific region,” according to Nico Roehrich, manager of network investments for Facebook Engineering.
The 12,000-kilometer (7,456-mile) cable will support existing systems like the recently announced Echo submarine system—another joint project by Google and Facebook. Echo, one of the first transpacific cables to use a “new diverse route” across the Java Sea, will connect Singapore, Guam, Indonesia, and North America. It is set for completion in 2023 and involves Indonesian telecommunications provider XL Axiata.
A second cable, dubbed Bifrost, will also provide new connections and help bring more people online via broadband. Data travels through the cable’s optical fibers as pulses of light, amplified with a high-voltage electrical current supplied at landing stations in each country, helping meet growing demand for 4G, 5G, and broadband access in the region.
“The Apricot cable is part of our ongoing effort to expand global network infrastructure and better serve the more than 3.5 billion people around the world who use our services every month,” Roehrich wrote in a blog announcement. “[It] is the latest example of our innovative partnership model, in which all parties benefit from developing scale infrastructure and shared technology expertise.”
That includes Google, which now boasts investments in 18 subsea and consortium cables, counting Curie, Dunant, Equiano, Firmina, Grace Hopper, JGA, INDIGO, Havfrue, and, of course, Apricot. “As the ways that we work, play, and connect become increasingly digital, reliable connectivity is more important than ever before,” Google Global Networking VP Bikash Koley said.
These submarine systems “will offer benefits with multiple paths in and out of Asia,” he explained, “ensuring a significantly higher degree of resilience for Google Cloud and digital services. Together they’ll provide businesses and startups in Asia with lower latency, more bandwidth, and increased resilience in their connectivity between Southeast Asia, North Asia, and the United States.”
