Argentinian regulator Enacom has granted authorisation to Google to carry out the installation of its Firmina fibre optic cable in Argentine territorial waters.
This paves the way for the roll-out of what is expected to be one of the world’s longest subsea cables at approximately 13,500 kilometres – a high-capacity fibre optic submarine cable system extending from Myrtle Beach in South Carolina to Las Toninas in the Province of Buenos Aires. There will also be branches to Punta del Este, Uruguay, and Praia Grande, near São Paulo, in Brazil.
As Google explains, Firmina will be the longest cable in the world capable of running entirely from a single power source at one end of the cable if its other power source (or sources) becomes temporarily unavailable. This, Google explains, is a resilience boost at a time when reliable connectivity is more important than ever. Achieving this record-breaking, highly resilient design, it adds, is accomplished by supplying the cable with a voltage 20% higher than with previous systems.
With 12 fibre pairs, the cable will carry traffic quickly and securely between North and South America. The cable will offer a final design capacity of 15.03 terabits per second per fibre pair.
The cable is named after Maria Firmina dos Reis (1825-1917), a Brazilian author and abolitionist.
This is the second major announcement involving a Google cable project in recent days. As we reported at the time, Google’s Equiano subsea internet cable, which connects South Africa with Portugal, reached South Africa on Monday.
