SANTIAGO: Chile and Google inked an agreement Wednesday for the installation of the first-ever submarine fiber optic cable between South America, Asia and Oceania by 2027.
South America relies for its digital connectivity on infrastructure running through North America, and the new multi-million dollar will provide a faster alternative.
“This cable not only meets a technical need, but also represents a bet on resilience, diversification of digital routes, and the opening up of new possibilities for international collaboration,“ Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren said at the signing ceremony in Santiago.
Dubbed the “Humboldt Project,“ the 14,800-kilometer (nearly 9,200-mile) cable will run from Valparaiso on Chile’s Pacific coast to Sydney, Australia, via French Polynesia.
According to Google, this will be the first such cable to directly connect South America and the Asia-Pacific.
When the partnership was first announced in January 2024, the Chilean government stated the cable would have a capacity of 144 terabytes per second and a lifespan of 25 years.
It could also benefit other countries in the region such as Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil.
“In an international context marked by growing geopolitical tensions and strategic competition... initiatives such as the Humboldt Project take on particular importance,“ Van Klaveren said.
The new cable will notably reduce “latency” -- the lapse between sending and receiving a signal, added Transport and Telecommunications Minister Juan Carlos Munoz.
“This fraction of a second could make the difference between a good and a less good intervention” in the field of telemedicine, he said.
Google has not disclosed the amount of its investment, but the head of state-owned company Desarrollo Pais, Patricio Rey, said the original price tag had been estimated at between $300 million and $550 million.
The Chilean state will contribute $25 million.
