The companies are working together to increase data capacity and improve internet reliability
After it announced last May that it would build a 37K kilometer-long
undersea cable around Africa to provide better internet access, Facebook revealed
another plan.
Facebook,
and Google are planning to lay two subsea cables that will connect the US West
Coast to Southeast Asia's biggest economies – Singapore and Indonesia.
According to Facebook, the wires will increase the data capacity between the
regions by 70%.
The project's cost has not been disclosed, but Google is
investing only in Echo, while Facebook is investing in both Echo and Bifrost. "As
part of this effort, we're proud to announce that we have partnered with
leading regional and global partners to build two new subsea cables — Echo and
Bifrost — that will provide vital new connections between the Asia-Pacific
region and North America," stated Facebook's Kevin Salvadori and Nico
Roehrich. In Asia, they are partnering up with Telin, XL Axiata, and Keppel.
Facebook and Google hope that Echo
will be completed by late 2023 and Bifrost by late 2024.
Following the news, Facebook stock price gained almost 2%,
while Google lost 0.39%.
Source: cnbc.com
