Google is joining a consortium of six firms formed with the intention of building a new trans-Pacific under-sea fibre optic cable to boost internet capacity between the US and Asia.Entitled Unity, the group of companies also includes telecommunications firms Bharti Airtel and SingTel, as well as fibre optic cable network operator Pacnet.
Once the construction of the cable is complete, the businesses involved plan to allow ownership and management of individual fibre pairs.
The cable is set to run between Chikura - off the coast of Tokyo - and the western coast of the US at Los Angeles.
Its construction, meanwhile, is predicted to cost $300 million and will begin immediately, with the estimated time of completion set for the first quarter of 2010.
The cable is expected to increase trans-Pacific capacity by approximately 20 per cent and could add as much as 7.68 terabytes per second of bandwidth across the ocean.
According to Alan Mauldin, research director with TeleGeograph, the move is the first time an internet company has invested in this type of technology, Mercury News reports.
He stated: "It shows that companies like Google are not just websites you go to."
The project is not Google's first move into telecommunications infrastructure. The search engine provider is currently involved in the ongoing auction for wireless spectrum in the US, a process being overseen by the Federal Communications Commission.
