Pacific Light Cable Network

Pacific Light Cable Network

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – U.S. recommends approving Google, Meta undersea data cable to Asia

Concept –

• The Biden administration recommended Alphabet’s Google and Facebook parent Meta get permission to use an undersea cable system to handle growing internet traffic with Asia.
• The administration urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant licenses for the companies to send and receive data on the existing 8,000-mile Pacific Light Cable Network.
  • The undersea fiber-optic cable system connects the United States, Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong.
• Undersea cables transmit nearly all the world’s internet data traffic.

About Pacific Light Cable Network

• Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) connects Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines and the US.
• PLCN offers the first direct submarine cable connectivity between Hong Kong and Los Angeles, the US, spanning approximately 13000 km. PLCN offers the shortest RTD between Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
• PLCN is the first and currently the only submarine cable system in the world to deploy with C+L band optical technology. C+L band technology had been technically feasible when PLCN project was launched in the end of 2015.