Google is ready to build a new submarine cable that connects Chile with Australia, through French Polynesia, the first cable of its type that directly connects South America with Asia-Pacific.
Nicknamed “Humboldt,” in honor of the German scholar and explorer. Alexander of Humboldtthe new cable is the latest of more than a dozen Similar underwater cables that Google has invested in for the past 15 years, a journey that began in 2010 with Unity and stretched some 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean from California to Japan.
While countless other undersea cables traverse In the Pacific Ocean, they substantially connect Asia with North America, although some meander along the Pacific coast from the United States and Mexico to various landing points in the south of the continent. In fact, Google completed its first fully private cable project four years ago with Curie, connecting California to Chile.
Submarine cable map Image credits: SubmarineCableMap.com
Google hasn't given any indication as to when Humboldt will be complete, but rather than going it alone as it has with other recent cable projects, the internet giant is partnering with Chilean Country Development and French Polynesia Post and Telecommunications Office (TO OPT) to lay the 9,200-mile (14,800 km) cable.
As with other similar efforts, Humboldt is designed to improve data transfers around the world, working in conjunction with other Google infrastructure projects, including local data centers in Chile; it's about promising their customers lower latency, while the countries themselves benefit from a more robust internet infrastructure.
tech companies such as Meta, Microsoft and Amazon have also invested in various internet infrastructure programs and, along with Google, the quartet are said to own or lease around half of all undersea cabling bandwidth.
