Google's New 'Grace Hopper' Undersea Fiber-Optic Cable Will Link US To UK And Spain

Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG subsidiary Google said Tuesday it would lay an undersea fiber-optic cable between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain, in an effort to bolster its services, CNBC reported.

What Happened 

The search engine giant has signed a contract with New Jersey-based underwater cable provider SubCom for the cable "Grace Hopper," named after a U.S. computer scientist. The project is due to be finished in 2022.

“Once commissioned, the Grace Hopper cable will be one of the first new cables to connect the U.S. and U.K. since 2003, increasing capacity on this busy global crossroads and powering Google services like Meet, Gmail and Google Cloud,” Bikash Koley, vice president of Google Global Network, said.

Why It Matters

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of reliable connectivity as businesses rely on the internet, according to Tom Meyer, general manager at technology analyst firm IDC Europe, CNBC reported.

Google got approval to temporarily operate an undersea cable between the US and Taiwan for a period of six months in April, as it looked to tackle pandemic-related pressures on its networks.

During the coronavirus crisis, companies like Netflix Inc NFLIX and Facebook Inc FB also faced congestion issues and were forced to lower streaming video quality for their customers. 

Price Action 

Alphabet Class A shares traded 0.1% higher at $1,531 and Class C shares traded about 0.4% higher at $1,536 in the pre-market session Tuesday.