Google will invest $1 billion to improve digital connectivity between the U.S. and Japan through two new subsea cables, the Alphabet-owned firm said on Wednesday amid a visit by the Japanese prime minister to boost ties between the countries.
The two subsea cables, Proa and Taihei, will improve
connectivity between the U.S., Japan and multiple Pacific island countries and
territories, Google said in a blog post.
"Building on the U.S.-Australia joint funding
commitment for subsea cables last October, the United States and Japan plan to
collaborate with like-minded partners to build trusted and more resilient
networks and intend to contribute funds to provide subsea cables in the Pacific
region," a United States-Japan joint statement said on Wednesday.
The Pacific region has become a great area of interest for
China and the U.S., who are jostling for influence in the zone with competing
offers for infrastructure and military partnerships.
President Joe Biden has pushed for U.S. dominance in
telecommunications services, seeing the industry as a key national security
issue due to its control over information flows worldwide.
The U.S. pledged last year to jointly fund two undersea
cables, to be built by Google, connecting the U.S. territory of Guam with hubs
in Fiji and French Polynesia, and further branching out across remote Pacific
Islands.
Google said the Proa subsea cable would connect the U.S.,
Japan, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam, while
the Taihei subsea cable would connect the U.S., Japan and Hawaii.
Additionally, Google said it would fund the construction of
an interlink cable connecting Hawaii, the CNMI and Guam.
The tech giant also said it would work in collaboration with
Japanese-based companies - including KDDI, Arteria Networks, Philippines-based
Citadel Pacific and the CNMI - to improve the digital connectivity in the
region.
Subsea cables are the backbone of the internet, carrying 99%
of the world's data traffic.
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