$500 million underwater fiber network to link Asia, America

Unfortunately for most, traversing back and forth to Asia from America on a regular basis isn't exactly in the cards, but thanks to a $500 million project agreed upon by a 17-member telecommunications consortium, visiting via fiber will soon be a whole lot snappier. Telekom Malaysia, along with 16 other firms, have awarded a half billion dollar contract to Alcatel-Lucent and NEC to construct a 12,428-mile link between the west coast of America and Southeast Asia. The aptly-dubbed Asia-America Gateway will connect the western US with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii, while also offering "seamless interconnection" with Europe, Africa, and Australia. Moreover, the project is being designed to provide a "more secure link for traffic" across the seas, as it avoids the hazardous Pacific Ring in hopes of dodging massive internet outages due to unexpected earthquakes. Best of all, the wait time for the undersea cabling to make an impact is fairly reasonable, as users should see "faster and more reliable service" when it becomes operational in December of next year.

[Via Physorg]

[ROFLROFFLES @ Apr 28th 2007 5:56PM]

Will this improve the slow-ass internet speed that Malaysia have right now?

[Ypoknons @ Apr 28th 2007 5:57PM]

Well, for someone was DOES regularly transverse from Asia to North America (and know plenty of others who do), and who WAS there for the internet outages for the Taiwan earthquake, what can I say but "about bloody time?"

[Sandeep @ Apr 28th 2007 5:57PM]

Good to hear. Hope this does for the island nations what excess fiber capacity has done for India.

[Neebs @ Apr 28th 2007 6:35PM]

Better connections to Japan and the like, yes?

[Jamar @ Apr 29th 2007 7:26AM]

People in Japan already get personal 100Mbps fiber connections for the same price we pay for FiOS/ADSL in the States. They're fine at that level- they're far ahead of practically every other country.

[Neebs @ Apr 29th 2007 8:36AM]

Well yes, but I mean, better connections from US or Europe to Japan and the like?

[Big @ Apr 28th 2007 6:59PM]

Would it not be faster, easier and more reliable to construct a network of high altitude baloons or satellites to beam signals to and from?

[Russ @ Apr 28th 2007 7:05PM]

i'd love to know what "seamless interconnection" - are some people currently changing cables like an 1890s phone operator to connect to Europe, Africa and Australia?

[fearless_fx @ Apr 28th 2007 7:31PM]

From the picture, it would appear that the internet actually does consist of a series of tubes.

[nizzy1115 @ Apr 28th 2007 7:44PM]

*SNIP SNIP*

[David Koh @ Apr 29th 2007 2:28AM]

Oh well.....why cant they build it faster and improve the SUPER slow broadband connection in malaysia.

http://www.drett.com

[nikster @ Apr 28th 2007 11:26PM]

any word on the speed of this new link? this is sorely needed in SEA with the exception of Singapore which already has decent connectivity.

greetings from Thailands northern mountain ranges.

[Fragger @ Apr 29th 2007 3:15AM]

A fiber link is about as fast as you can ever get, only limited by the speed of light and repeaters or what not in between so no.

[trainwrecka @ Apr 29th 2007 11:47AM]

WOW... it will be up and running in a little over a year??? that is amazing.

[frank grimes @ Apr 29th 2007 4:14PM]

What people don't seem to understand is that all of the seemingly crazy internet speeds offered to consumers in Asia are restricted geographically. This pipe will seem to offer the equivalent of what trans-Atlantic lines did many years ago: high-bandwidth access to the US and our many interconnects.

It's "seemeless" because we don't have to go to Europe first to get to Japan.

[Tim @ May 1st 2007 9:08AM]

Does this mean Australia's ISPs won't be so utterly anal about the price of decent broadband when this thing goes into commission?

Seriously, we have some pretty lousy prices here down under.