Google will lay Australia-US submarine fiber optic cable to provide Internet access to at least eight Pacific countries

CTOnews.com, October 25 (Xinhua)-- the U.S. government has announced an agreement with Australia to build submarine fiber optic cables, docks and other infrastructure for Pacific island countries.

According to reports, the submarine cable under the agreement will be operated by Google under Alphabet and will provide Internet access to at least eight remote Pacific countries, including Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

"We have listened carefully to the needs of the island countries, and the plan will provide what we think is a very high-speed, secure and stable Internet connection for many major islands in the Indo-Pacific region," an official said. "

Another senior government official revealed that Australia will contribute $50 million (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 365 million yuan), while the United States will contribute another $15 million (currently about 110 million yuan).

As part of the Pacific Islands project, the US will work with countries to improve network security and help them back up critical information to global cloud networks, the official said.