Google and Facebook to lay internet cable connecting LA and HK
Google and Facebook are to lay the first internet cable directly connecting Los Angeles to Hong Kong. The cable will have 12,800km (7,953 miles) of fibre optics with a 120 terabit-per-second capacity, making it the "highest-capacity trans-Pacific" cable of its kind. The Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) will be operational by May 2018 and connect Manhattan Beach, California, to Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong. Google's Director of Networking Infrastructure, Brian Quigley, said the cable would have enough capacity for "Hong Kong to have 80 million concurrent HD video conference calls with Los Angeles".

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The world's network of undersea internet cables is vast and its capacity is set to expand further with Google's plans for a new 'Indigo cable'.

Read more: Ever wondered how underwater cables are laid? We take a trip on the ship that keeps us online

The search giant along with internet infrastructure firms Indosat Ooredoo, Singtel, SubPartners, and Telstra, is going to connect Singapore to Perth and Sydney, Australia, with the new cable.

Indigo will have two fiber pairs, as well as a capacity of 18 terabits per second and will run a length of around 5,600 miles from Singapore to the Eastern side of Australia.

"Using coherent optical technology, which uses light to transmit data along fibre optic cables, each of the two-fibre pairs will have a minimum capacity of 18 terabits per second, with the option to increase this capacity in the future," those behind the cable said in a statement.

Google says when the cable is completed in mid-2019 it will, theoretically, be able to handle eight million Google Hangout video calls at once.