Optical & Fixed Networks

New Google subsea cable to connect Oman, Maldives and Australia

New Google subsea cable to connect Oman, Maldives and Australia

Google says it plans to deploy a new trans-Indian Ocean subsea cable system that will connect Oman, the Maldives Islands in South Asia, and Christmas Island, an Australian territory. It will be called Dhivaru after the line that controls the main sail on traditional Maldivian sailing vessels.

This investment will build on Google’s Australia Connect initiative, which is described as furthering the reach, reliability, and resilience of digital connectivity across the Indian Ocean.

In addition to the cable investment, Google says it will be investing in creating two new connectivity hubs for the region. It says the Maldives (in this case, Addu City, which consists of the inhabited islands of Addu Atoll, the southernmost atoll of the archipelago) and Christmas Island are naturally positioned for connectivity hubs to help improve digital connectivity for the region, including Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Oceania. 

Google describes the hubs as “strategic investments designed to future-proof regional connectivity and accelerate the delivery of next-generation services through three core capabilities: cable switching, content caching, and colocation”.

As part of the development of these sites – described as smaller and less power-hungry than a traditional Google data centre – the company will be looking into local renewable energy. Cable capacity and project timelines were not shared.

As the Data Centre Developments website points out, current and planned international subsea cables landing in the Maldives include the Peace, Falcon, Sea-Me-We-6, and India Asia Xpress systems, while the Maldives Sri Lanka Cable and Dhiraagu-SLT Submarine Cable Network link the Maldives directly with Sri Lanka.

It adds that Oman is the landing point for 21 current and future planned cable systems across the country via eight landing points; most are clustered around the cities of Muscat and Salalah.



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