A Google-funded giant undersea Internet cable that links Japan with the United States is scheduled to go online starting June 30, Thursday. NEC Corporation made the announcement in a recent press release. The Japanese IT giant stated that building and testing the "Faster" trans-Pacific cable has been completed.
Therefore, the system is ready to go online. The 9,000-kilometer (5,600-mile) cable connects Oregon with the Chiba and Mie counties in Japan.
This Internet cable lands in three different locations, but connects the US West Coast and all major cities in Japan. It can also link other major Asia hubs.
Faster was originally unveiled in August 2014. It includes a group of Internet companies that want to improve cross-continental networking including Google, China Telecom Global, and Singtel.
The Internet companies teamed up with global networking company NEC to help build the cable system and make it live. Faster is reportedly a unique kind of trans-Pacific cable line. That is because it uses a six-fiber pair cable and provides speeds up to 60 terabits per second (Tb/s), according to The Verge.
Hiromitsu Todokoro is chairman of the Faster management committee. He said in a press release that Faster is the result of six member companies teaming up with NEC to boost the speed and reliability of Internet connections.
In the past Google has made other investments in under-sea cables. In has spent money on other underwater cables to connect the US to South America, and various Asian regions including Japan. Such connections help to increase general connectivity and network speeds.
In related news, Alphabet subsidiary Google Fiber recently announced it will purchase Webpass, according to Forbes. The company mainly provides high-speed wireless web connections to homes and offices in the US.
The acquisition is part of Google Fiber's big plan to use cheap wireless tech for beaming high-speed Internet to homes.
WebPass is testing a new tech called "pcell" that is a wireless antenna for specific users. The antenna is installed on buildings that receive Webpass broadband services.
Alphabet is racing companies such as Facebook and Amazon to provide better Internet connectivity. Google Fiber's purchase of WebPass will help the company to compete better and expand at a faster rate.
Here's a Google Fiber speed test: