Facebook and Google are reportedly building undersea internet cables around the world connecting Guam, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Facebook revealed that it is helping build a 7,500-mile cable. Both tech giants are betting that the investments will bring in millions of new customers.
According to Facebook, the cable, ‘Project Apricot’, is expected to launch in 2024 and is likely to deliver better 4G, 5G, and broadband internet to the region.
That project complements another undersea cable connecting Singapore, Indonesia, and North America that Facebook and Google first unveiled together this March in collaboration with several Asian telecom companies.
The tech giants have not disclosed that how much money they would be spending on such projects. However, they revealed that ‘Project Apricot’ has the potential to bring internet access to millions of new customers.
In Indonesia, some 27 percent of the country’s population — of about 73 million people — have no internet access and most Indonesians who do go online do so through spotty mobile connections.
Facebook also said Monday it is expanding a 23,000-mile undersea cable project circling the entire continent of Africa and connecting to Europe.
The cable, called 2Africa, was designed to link 26 countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The expansion 2Africa project is part of Facebook’s broader goal of bringing Africans online. Earlier in 2016, Facebook created a $200 million satellite that was designed to beam down the internet to the continent.
