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August 12, 2014

Google, Asian telecom giants building US-Japan undersea cable

Google and five Asian telecom firms will invest US$300 million to develop and operate a cable network connecting the United States to Japan. Photo: Bloomberg

Search giant Google Inc. and five Asian telecommunication companies have agreed to invest about US$300 million to develop and operate a trans-Pacific cable network connecting the United States to Japan, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

To be named FASTER, the cable network will have an initial capacity of 60 terabits per second and will connect Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Oregon and Seattle to Chikura and Shima in Japan.

Construction will start immediately and the cable network will be ready for service in the second quarter of 2016, according to a statement from Japan’s NEC Corp., which will be the system supplier.

The network would also be able to connect to neighboring cable systems to extend its capacity beyond Japan to other Asian countries, the report said.

Also involved in the project are China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, TIME Dotcom’s Global Transit, KDDI Corp. and Singapore Telecommunications.

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http://www.ejinsight.com/20140812-googler-asian-telecom-firms-us-japan-undersea-cable/