Google plans to construct a new undersea cable that will link Chile with Australia, passing through French Polynesia. This cable, named “Humboldt” after the renowned German polymath and explorer Alexander von Humboldt, marks the first direct connection between South America and the Asia-Pacific region.
Google has been actively investing in such undersea cables for over 15 years, starting with the 6,000-mile Unity cable in 2010, spanning the Pacific Ocean from California to Japan.
While numerous submarine cables traverse the Pacific, they mainly connect Asia with North America. In contrast, Humboldt will establish a direct link between South America and the Asia-Pacific region. Google previously completed its first entirely private cable project, Curie, connecting California with Chile four years ago.
Google has not disclosed the expected completion date for Humboldt. Unlike its recent cable projects where Google went solo, the tech giant is collaborating with Chile’s Desarrollo País and the Office des postes et télécommunications de Polynésie française (OPT) to lay the 9,200-mile (14,800 KM) cable.
Similar to previous endeavors, Humboldt aims to enhance global data transfers, complementing Google’s existing infrastructure projects such as local data centers in Chile. The primary goal is to provide customers with lower latency, while the involved countries benefit from a more resilient internet infrastructure.
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