Subsea Cables & Internet Infrastructure

The planned Bulikala cable connects Google's modular prefabricated Guam CLS to Fiji. It is a part of a grand plan to dramatically increase Pacific subsea throughput and resiliency via a web of island hopping fibre optic cables. These small islands offer diverse network routing. They also offer power, which is the gating factor for throughput over long distances. Bulikala deployment is well underway with a branch recently landing on Tuvalu island, which has only satellite connectivity. The branch is a joint project of Google and the island's PTT. Most Pacific islands are poor due to limited resources, geographic isolation, and poor digital connectivity. They are also threatened by rising water due to global warming. Even the Hawaii island chain is relatively poor with Honolulu being surprisingly run down.  There is a mighty power play at work here. The US government provides aid to these islands sprinkled across the Pacific Ocean for their on-land digital infrastructure while Go...

The planned Bulikala cable connects Google's modular prefabricated Guam CLS to Fiji. The branch is right below Guam on the map at the bottom of this page. It is part of a large scale Google project costing a billion dollars  to dramatically increase Pacific subsea throughput and resiliency via a web of island hopping fibre optic cables. These small islands such as Fiji, Christmas Island, the Marshalls, and Polynesia offer diverse network routing that is particularly valuable in case of a subsea cable segment goes dark. They also offer power, which is the gating factor for throughput over long distances. All power conductors lead to voltage drawdown which limits bandwidth. Boosting power at intermediate points will allow higher transmission rates and lead to better return on the capital invested. The overall plan is to connect Japan, Guam, Hawaii, many islands such as Fiji and French Polynesia to the US in such a way as to increase both throughput via power stops at small islands a...