Google to build undersea cable between New York and Cornwall
Google is set to build a subsea network cable between the US, the UK and Spain, it said today.
The landing points will be situated in New York, Bude and Bilbao, and is set to go online by 2022.
Named after Grace Hopper, who was a pioneering computer scientist, the project will join three existing Google cables between the US and South America, the US and France and Europe and Africa.
Google said approximately 98 per cent of the world’s international data transfers are carried via subsea cabling.
It added that it intends to incorporate new technology into the Grace Hopper cable, with the project to be one of the first cables built between the US and the UK since 2003.
The cable is Google’s first investment in a private subsea cable route to the UK, and its first-ever route to Spain.
“Private subsea cables allow us to plan effectively for the future capacity needs of our customers and users around the world, and add a layer of security beyond what’s available over the public internet,” said Bikash Koley, vice president of Google’s Global Network.
The Grace Hopper cable will be built by Subcom, which Google also contracted for work on its Dunant and Curie cables.
Google is set to announce its quarterly results on Thursday, a day after its chief executive Sundar Pichai appears before the US House Judiciary Committee to dispel allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.