A multi-partner coalition that includes Google, Facebook, Pacific Light Data Communications, and TE Subcom announced that it is planning to build a massive undersea cable connecting Los Angeles to Hong Kong. Google, who seems to be leading the coalition, says that the cable “will have 12,800 km of fiber and an estimated cable capacity of 120 Tbps, making it the highest-capacity trans-Pacific route.”
The cable connection will have the capacity to host 80 million concurrent HD video call between Hong Kong and Los Angeles. Only the Facebook-Microsoft undersea cable currently being installed between Virginia and Spain is faster, but the Hong Kong-LA connection is nearly twice its length. Tech companies are increasingly investing in this kind of large-scale installation to ensure that their international customers have reliable high-speed connections.
