Google, Facebook unveil undersea internet cable plan for Asia and Africa

Facebook revealed Sunday that it is helping build a 7,500-mile cable. Both tech giants are betting that the investments will bring in millions of new customers.

According to Facebook, the cable, ‘Project Apricot’, is expected to launch in 2024 and is likely to deliver better 4G, 5G and broadband internet to the region.

That project compliments another undersea cable connecting Singapore, Indonesia and North America that Facebook and Google first unveiled together this March in collaboration with several Asian telecom companies.

The tech giants have not disclosed that how much money they would be spending on such project. However, they revealed that ‘Project Apricot’ have the potential to bring internet access to millions of new customers.

In Indonesia, some 27 percent of the country’s population — or about 73 million people — have no internet access, and most Indonesians who do go online do so through spotty mobile connections.

Facebook also said Monday it is expanding 23,000-mile undersea cable project circling the entire continent of Africa and connecting to Europe.

The cable, called 2Africa, was designed to link 26 countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The expansion 2Africa project is part of Facebook’s broader goal of bringing Africans online.

Earlier in 2016, Facebook created a $200 million satellite that was designed to beam down internet to the continent.

Moreover, the tech giant hired SpaceX to launch the satellite — but the rocket blew up on the Launchpad in a massive fireball.

Facebook and Google seem to have decided that undersea cable are more reliable. Meanwhile, the two companies are behind about 80% of all investments in trans-Atlantic deep-sea cables in recent years.