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The
two subsea cables, Proa and Taihei, will improve connectivity
between the U.S., Japan and multiple Pacific island countries
and territories, Google said in a blog post.
"Building on the U.S.-Australia joint funding commitment for
subsea cables last October, the United States and Japan plan to
collaborate with like-minded partners to build trusted and more
resilient networks and intend to contribute funds to provide
subsea cables in the Pacific region," a United States-Japan
joint statement said on Wednesday.
The Pacific region has become a great area of interest for China
and the U.S., who are jostling for influence in the zone with
competing offers for infrastructure and military partnerships.
President Joe Biden has pushed for U.S. dominance in
telecommunications services, seeing the industry as a key
national security issue due to its control over information
flows worldwide.
The U.S. pledged last year to jointly fund two undersea cables,
to be built by Google, connecting the U.S. territory of Guam
with hubs in Fiji and French Polynesia, and further branching
out across remote Pacific Islands.
Google said the Proa subsea cable would connect the U.S., Japan,
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and
Guam, while the Taihei subsea cable would connect the U.S.,
Japan and Hawaii.
Additionally, Google said it would fund the construction of an
interlink cable connecting Hawaii, the CNMI and Guam.
The tech giant also said it would work in collaboration with
Japanese-based companies - including KDDI, Arteria Networks,
Philippines-based Citadel Pacific and the CNMI - to improve the
digital connectivity in the region.
Subsea cables are the backbone of the internet, carrying 99% of
the world's data traffic.
(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan
Barona)
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