Google and Facebook have joined hands to build a 12,000-kilometre long subsea cable, aimed at expanding connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region. Subsea cables are laid on sea beds to carry telecommunication signals. The California-based companies announced two new subsea cables, Echo and Bifrost, in March, to connect Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia and Singapore. Also Read | Reliance Jio joins global consortium to build undersea cable networkApricot will also be an addition to Google’s global list of subsea cables including Curie, Dunant, Equiano, and Grace Hopper, expanding the company’s investments in 18 subsea cables across 27 cloud regions and 82 zones around the world. Separately, Facebook and a team of African and global telecom companies on Monday said they will add four more countries to its world’s largest subsea cable project, widening the build project in Africa earlier than planned, Reuters reported.

Source: The Hindu August 17, 2021 11:48 UTC