Google has announced it is backing plans to build and operate a new high-speed internet Trans-Pacific cable system called “FASTER.” In addition to Google, the $300 million project will be jointly managed by China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Global Transit, KDDI, and SingTel, with NEC as the system supplier. FASTER will feature the latest high-quality 6-fiber-pair cable and optical transmission technologies. The initial design capacity is expected to be 60Tb/s (100Gb/s x 100 wavelengths x 6 fiber-pairs), connecting the US with two locations in Japan.
After months of planning, Google took the wrapsoff its plans to fund a $300 million fiber optic cable to Japan, committing the Web company to its third public investment in the region’s Internet infrastructure over the past six years. The plan, reported by The Wall Street Journal in June, underscores how big technology companies are sending an increasing amount of traffic across private networks. It will build on Google’s already deep investments in Asia, including the already built Unity cable to Japan and the Southeast Asia Japan cable, which stretches to Singapore. Those fiber lines, which Google and other Web firms typically rent from telecom companies, are increasingly being used in-house to sync up Google’s massive data centers. Google won’t be funding the project on its own. Asian carriers China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Global Transit, KDDI and SingTel are all kicking in for the project, which is expected to be ready for service by mid-2016. The consortium named the cable “Faster” to reflect its members’ intention to finish the project swiftly.
