Google and Facebook on Monday unveiled plans for a brand new undersea Internet cable connecting Singapore, Japan, Guam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Indonesia.

The cable challenge dubbed Apricot can be some 12,000kms (almost 7,500 miles) and be operational in 2024 topic to regulatory approvals, the businesses stated in separate statements.

The challenge introduced by the US corporations and regional and world companions “will deliver much-needed internet capacity, redundancy, and reliability to expand connections in the Asia-Pacific region,” stated Facebook engineering supervisor Nico Roehrich.

“The Apricot cable is part of our ongoing effort to expand global network infrastructure and better serve the more than 3.5 billion people around the world who use our services every month,” Roehrich added.

Earlier this yr the businesses introduced one other cable challenge dubbed Echo connecting the United States, Singapore, Guam, and Indonesia. 

“The Echo and Apricot cables are complementary submarine systems that will offer benefits with multiple paths in and out of Asia, including unique routes through southern Asia, ensuring a significantly higher degree of resilience for Google Cloud and digital services,” stated Google Cloud vp Bikash Koley.

“Together they’ll provide businesses and startups in Asia with lower latency, more bandwidth, and increased resilience in their connectivity between Southeast Asia, North Asia, and the United States,” Koley added.

Google and Facebook this yr halted efforts on a deliberate undersea cable that may have related California and Hong Kong, as a consequence of tensions between the United States and China.

Last yr, the US Department of Justice beneficial that the deliberate cable proposed by Google and Facebook bypass Hong Kong.