Facebook plans 2 submarine cables between North America and Southeast Asia: “70 percent faster internet”

Echo In PifrostTwo submarine cables that Facebook plans to build on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean will connect the west coast of North America and Indonesia and Singapore in Southeast Asia, according to a report by a social networking company. The goal? To significantly increase internet capability between the two continents.

Not only will Echo and Bifrost be the first Trans-Pacific cables across the Java Sea on a new, different path, but the overall Trans-Pacific capacity will increase by 70 percent, ”Facebook writes. “These cables reflect our commitment to transparency and the innovative partnership model we work with with many leading Indonesian and global partners.”

One of those partners is Alphabet, the parent company above the Internet company Google. Echo should be ready by 2023 and ByFrost should be ready by 2024. Facebook indicates that the relevant authorities must first give their approval. At the same time, the company promises to launch a network of over 3,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables over two cables between 20 cities, Bali, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

Sharks and whales

“Internet traffic these days is really mainly wireless, but in practice it is only the first meter to be wireless,” explains Steven Laudrey, a professor at the University of Antwerp in “Today’s World”. “Then it continues on a wire. 99 percent of the Internet traffic between Europe and North America goes through submarines.”

There are currently 400 to 500 such cables worldwide. They are large ships, which unravel through a gigantic reel and place them at the bottom of the oceans. Because of this. This has become less common in recent years as technology advances. “

According to Lautreau, there are two major reasons for Facebook to create Echo and Bifrost. “The company wants to tap into new markets. Today, not everyone has an internet connection in Indonesia. At the same time, Facebook wants to run an operator. It will create a revenue model that can send data through those cables.”

This is not the first time Facebook has reproduced via an undersea cable between North America and Asia. Earlier, the social networking company wanted to lay a similar cable between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, but the project ended in rubbish because the US government was afraid to spy on behalf of China.

It is unclear how much Echo and Bifrost will cost. “It would definitely run into hundreds of millions of dollars,” Lautre says. “Such cables are more expensive than satellites, but you can transmit more data with a cable like this via a satellite. The latest generation cables can handle 40 terabytes per second, which is equivalent to about 5 million Netflix images. Southeast Asia, Echo and Bifrost Significantly better internet. “

Listen to the conversation with Steven Latrey via Radio 1 Select here