Google Plans Beyond Unity

August 28th, 2008 by · 4 Comments

Telegeography reports that Google is working on yet another cable in Asia.  Google has already helped start the Unity system, now under construction and which will connect Japan and Los Angeles.  Data Center Knowledge has previously reported that Google has been scouting out locations throughout the region, so we have to see this all as part of one plan. The new cable under discussion, below,

Southeast Asia Japan Cable

will supposedly connect Unity’s Japan endpoint with Guam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, however other partners may come in before anything is finalized.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a connection to mainland China gets added on.  I even suspect Google is trying to make its way all the way to India, though perhaps not with this step.

The question remains though, with all the new cables going into asia, are we looking at a new bubble?  Traffic growth in the region is swift, but how much of it is really likely to be international?  After all, there is vast traffic within China, but only so much of it leaves the country due to language barriers.   Time will tell, but I suspect that Google does not care whether they cause a bubble or not.  The money they are investing is peanuts for them, whereas the opportunities that cheap bandwidth to Asia may bring are not.  Their entire purpose may be to break open what remains a region whose bandwidth markets are both tightly controlled by  incumbent national telecoms and difficult for outsiders to make headway into.

If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!

Categories: Internet Backbones · Undersea cables

Join the Discussion!

4 Comments So Far


  • Alfred J. Beljan says:

    why does not GOOG just buy up the older fiber from GBLX and be around the world already??

  • Rob Powell says:

    Global Crossing doesn’t have fiber to Asia, that went with the old Asia Global Crossing which is now in the hands of private equity. But the point is that the capacity already in place in the pacific is not sufficient to bring pricing down the way it has in the atlantic. Transpacific bandwidth remains expensive, and Google wants more fiber out there to bring it down.

  • tech101 says:

    Investing in the link of America – Asia make a lot of sense.

    Since you spend a lot of time in China, you know how slow the traffic and how tight the bandwidth are between the two continents.

  • Frank A. Coluccio says:

    There was also some speculation last week concerning Google’s possible interest in working with African operators in a new subsea build to Europe. See:

    Google eyes cable as Infraco flounders
    http://preview.tinyurl.com/57ouft

Leave a Comment

You may Log In to post a comment, or fill in the form to post anonymously.





  • Ramblings’ Jobs

    Post a Job - Just $99/30days
  • Event Calendar