24 September 2007

Google plans Unity cable across the Pacific

Google is planning an undersea communications cable across the Pacific set for use sometime in 2009, Communications Day reports.

According to the online publication, the Unity cable project has been under development for several months, with a group of carriers meeting up with Google executives for "high-level talks" in Sydney last week.

Spokesman for the search engine Barry Schnitt would not confirm or deny the existence of the project, saying: "Additional infrastructure for the internet is good for users and there are a number of proposals to add a Pacific submarine cable. We're not commenting on any of these plans."

Communications Day, however, stated that under the Unity plans, Google would ally with other carriers to build a "multi-terabit cable".

Apparently, "Google would get access to a fibre pair at build cost handing it a tremendous cost advantage over rivals such as MSN and Yahoo".

The move would also potentially allow the search engine to team up with Asia's internet service providers "behind their international gateways", thus improving the affordability of internet services across the continent.

Earlier this year, Google advertised a submarine cable negotiator position and, when asked to comment on the move, a spokesperson said that it should not be surprising that the company is looking for qualified people to help secure additional network capacity.

"In some parts of the world, these people will work with submarine cables because there is a lot of ocean out there," the spokesperson added.

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