Google, Facebook to lay internet cables between LA and Hong Kong

Google and Facebook are working together to beef up internet connectivity speeds between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

The two Bay Area tech companies are collaborating with Hong Kong-based Pacific Light Data Communication Co. (PLDC), a broadband provider, as well as New Jersey-based TE SubCom, an undersea communications technology company, on the project.

{mosads}The four are working together to lay down nearly 8,000 miles of fiber-optic cable that will offer record-breaking internet speeds across the Pacific Ocean, according to an announcement Wednesday. The network is slated to be operational in 2018.

The project, called the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN), is the first direct undersea route between L.A. and Hong Kong. PLDC Chairman Wei Junkang said in the announcement that his company sees this as the first step in their construction of a global network.

The Silicon Valley companies have previous experience helping create similar networks.

In May, Facebook and Microsoft announced a partnership to lay down a high-speed cable across the Atlantic Ocean. The L.A.-Hong Kong cable is the sixth Google has had an ownership stake in, according to Google’s Director of Networking Infrastructure Brian Quigley.

Quigley explained in a blogpost that the latest network will help Google users by allowing the company to keep up with advancements in internet infrastructure technology.

“From the get-go, PLCN is designed to accommodate evolving infrastructure technology, allowing us to independently choose network equipment and refresh optical technology as it advances,” he wrote.