Group with Google and others building cross-Pacific Broadband cable

The Jakarta Post

TOKYO (AP): A group of six international companies, including Google of the U.S., is building a US$300 million underwater fiber optic cable linking the United States and Japan.

The trans-Pacific 10,000 kilometer broadband cablesystem called Unity will respond to the expected growth in data and Internet traffic between Asia and the U.S., the companies said in a statement Monday. A signing ceremony was held Feb. 23, they said.

Besides U.S. Internet search company Google Inc., the consortium - also named Unity - includes Bharti Airtel Limited, India's leading integrated telecom services provider, and Japanese telecommunications company KDDI Corp.

The others are Malaysian Internet company Global Transit; Pacnet, a telecom company headquartered in Hong Kong and Singapore; and SingTel, a leading Asian communications and mobile company.

NEC Corp. and Tyco Telecommunications are suppliers for the project, set to be up and running in the first quarter of 2010. Construction begins immediately, according to Unity.

The cable will connect Chikura, near Tokyo, with Los Angeles and other U.S. West Coast points, and the system connects to other Asian cable systems via Chikura, the companies said.

"The Unity cable system allows the members of the consortium to provide the increased capacity needed as more applications and services migrate online, giving users faster and more reliable connectivity," said Unity spokesperson Jayne Stowell.