There will soon be another subsea cable crossing the Pacific. Yesterday Google announced plans to build Topaz, a transpacific system connecting Japan with North America. But there is one significant difference that adds diversity to global infrastructure.
Google’s Topaz doesn’t land in the USA, but rather will connect Japan directly with Canada. It will land in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, from which it will connect over to the city of Vancouver. On the Japanese end it will connect to the prefectures of Mie and Ibaraki. As currently designed, Topaz will have 16 fiber pairs and a design capacity of 240Tbps.
They aren’t wasting time either, because they are Google and they don’t have to convince as many people to make such a project happen. They have, however, been working with the Native American communities of the Hupacasath, Maa-nulth, and Tseshaht, through whose traditional territory the landing and terrestrial portion will pass. If all goes as planned, the cable will be ready for service in 2023.
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