Google announced that it will invest $1 billion to lay new submarine cables. The project is part of the Pacific Connect initiative. In this case we are talking about two new submarine cables: Proa and Taihei. These cables will create new fiber optic routes between the American continent and Japan.

Operated primarily by NEC, the Proa submarine cable will connect Japan, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. This cable takes its name from the traditional sailing canoes of the Mariana Islands. Taihei means “earth” and “Pacific Ocean” in Japanese. This is another NEC cable that will connect Japan to Hawaii.

Google will also fund the installation of an interconnector cable connecting Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam. This connection will connect trans-Pacific routes, improving the reliability of these routes and reducing latency for users in the Pacific Islands and around the world.