Facebook has planned two new undersea cables to connect Singapore, Indonesia and North America. This project is in partnership with Google and regional telecommunication companies to boost internet connection capacity between the regions. This project is subject to various regulatory approvals.
"Named Echo and Bifrost, those will be the first two cables to go through a new diverse route crossing the Java Sea and they will increase overall subsea capacity in the trans-pacific by about 70%," Facebook Vice President of Network Investments, Kevin Salvadori, told Reuters.
According to the executive, this undersea cable will be the first to directly connect North America to some of the main parts of Indonesia. This will increase connectivity for the central and eastern provinces of the world's fourth most populous state.
Echo is being built in partnership with Alphabet's Google and Indonesian telecommunications' company XL Axiata. It is expected to be completed by 2023. Meanwhile, Bifrost is in partnership with Telin, a subsidiary of Indonesia's Telkomsel, and Singaporean conglomerate Keppel. This project will be completed by 2024.
This follows the previous investments made by Facebook to build up connectivity in Indonesia, one of its top five markets globally.
