Google, Facebook Announce New Subsea Cable 'Apricot' To Improve Internet Connectivity Across Asia-Pacific

Alphabet and Facebook on Sunday announced their participation in a new subsea cable system scheduled for a 2024 rollout.

What Happened: Apricot subsea cable system will help improve the internet connectivity across the Asia-Pacific region, the companies said.

The project, which is awaiting approvals, will link Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore when complete — countries where demand for broadband and the 5G wireless connectivity is growing.

The infrastructure project will help serve growing demand for broadband access and 5G wireless connectivity, the companies said.

Facebook in March this year said it isfunding two new transpacific subsea cableslinking Singapore to the western coast of the U.S., with Google also participating in one of the projects.

Why It Matters: The two tech giants have been investing in building internet infrastructure across the world. Just last year, Google announced a $10 billion spending plan to help India’s digitization push over the next five to seven years.

“Network investments like these have had a measurable impact on regional economic activity,” Google said in a statement, adding that network investments in Google’s APAC region between 2010 and 2019 led to an extra $430 billion in aggregate GDP and 1.1 million additional jobs for the region.

Price Action: Facebook shares closed 0.15% higher at $363.18 on Friday.