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Google Expands Internet Through New Undersea Cable

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Eric Lieberman Managing Editor
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Google has officially expanded its new undersea cable, increasing internet access to thousands.

The tech giant improved the below-water fiber-optic power line that runs from the U.S. to Japan by extending its reach to Taiwan, which is the location of the largest data center in all of Asia, according to a formal Google blog post.

The original cable project, called FASTER, cost an estimated $300 million and was run by a consortium of businesses (some state-owned) from China, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and the U.S.

Google is striving to provide internet access and increase data speeds in Asia because tons of inhabitants who have never done so are now going online, according to TechCrunch. Every month, 3.8 million people in Southeast Asia go on the internet for the first time, according to a report coauthored by Google and a state-owned Singaporean investment company called Temasek.

“With more people coming online every day in Asia than anywhere else in the world, we’ve been working hard to invest in the infrastructure needed to make the Internet work for all of us … .” Google continued on its post. “It’s also why we’re investing in these undersea cables — to make everyone’s computing just a bit faster and to bring people around the world just a bit closer together.”

Here is an interactive map showing the complete network of submarine cables throughout the world.

Like Google, Facebook is trying to expand internet access to areas where the infrastructure is weak or nonexistent. Zuckerberg’s lofty and expensive initiative may have regressed since Elon Musk’s SpaceX had a rocket combust upon liftoff. The explosion destroyed one of Facebook’s satellites intended to give Africa wider internet access.

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