Google announced its plan to back a $300 million project to build a really long, high-speed internet cable between the U.S. and Japan. The project, called FASTER, is all about improving global communications, according to NEC, an information technology company in Japan.
Mr. Woohyong Choi, the chairman of the FASTER executive committee, said in an NEC press release, “FASTER is one of a few hundred submarine telecommunications cables connecting various parts of the world. These cables collectively form an important infrastructure that helps run global Internet and communications. The consortium partners are glad to work together to add a new cable to our global infrastructure. The FASTER cable system has the largest design capacity ever built on the Trans-Pacific route, which is one of the longest routes in the world. The agreement announced today will benefit all users of the global Internet.”
Currently, the project is headed by China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Global Transit, KDDI and SingTel. NEC is the system supplier. In a Google+ announcement, Google’s Senior Vice President of Technical Infrastructure Urs Hölzle said the undersea, six-fiber-pair cable will have “a design capacity of 60 Tbps (that’s about ten million times faster than your cable modem).”
The cable will connect the U.S. west coast to two locations in Japan. Hölzle said the cable is supposed to make internet faster in Asia. According to NEC, construction will begin immediately, with an expected completion date in the 2016 second quarter.