The idea of using undersea cables to serve high-speed bandwidth connections between continents is pretty old news – but times have changed, and now, the newest undersea cable being laid between the U.S. and Hong Kong could be in jeopardy.
Various transatlantic cables link markets and counterparties in the U.S. and Europe. A set of transpacific cables is also installed, and has been for years, but a new line backed by Google and Facebook is drawing attention from the U.S. Justice Department.
Breaking news at CNet shows that a task force called “Team Telecom” has national security concerns about linking the 8,000-mile-long Pacific Light Cable Network that’s already in the works.
Apparently, U.S. agencies have the power to reject a license application for the cable, which Google says will alleviate wait times and add security to Google Cloud Platform.
Facebook also cites the cable as a driver of service improvements for its many millions of users.
The controversy over the new transpacific line illustrates some of the general market anxiety that’s going on right now. Another major landmark is the U.S. administration’s ban of Chinese telecom firm Huawei, which has had scattered results in the markets.
It’s unusual for one of these undersea lines to be such a focus of doubt and concern as prior lines were seen mainly as utilitarian additions to the global Internet.
Reports show U.S. parties have specific concerns about direct links to Hong Kong:
“If the license application is rejected, this would be the first time the US has denied an undersea cable license because of national security,” writes Carrie Mihalcik at CNet, citing Wall Street Journal reports that show U.S. and Chinese firms have already invested millions of dollars in the connecting line.
Stay tuned to see how this works going forward.
