Today, a consortium of six companies, including Google, is set to activate FASTER, an enormous undersea fiber optic cable that stretches thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean between the US and Japan.

The cable itself is a bundle of six different fiber pairs capable of supporting up to 10 Tbps each for a combined total of 60 Tbps. That means FASTER is now the fastest active undersea cable in the world, bringing a massive boost in connectivity between North America and Japan.

“The completion of the FASTER cable system will provide capacity to support the expected four-fold increase in broadband traffic demand between Asia and North America,” said Ooi Seng Keat, Vice President of Carrier Services of Singtel Group Enterprise, one of the companies involved in the consortium. “By adding network redundancy and ultra-low latency to our existing trans-Pacific cable systems, it reinforces our leadership in international data services in the region and enhances our infrastructure to support our customers’ critical data traffic.”

“With a state-of-the-art design, the cable system provides continuous connectivity and sufficiently high capacity for cloud, video streaming, analytics and the Internet of Things, that will help spur innovation on both sides of the Pacific to stimulate the growth of the digital economy.”

Image courtesy of Singtel Group Enterprise

While FASTER may be the new fastest undersea cable, it may not hold that title for long. Last month, Microsoft and Facebook announced a joint venture in which they would lay a new undersea cable across the Atlantic that will support up to 160 Tbps, nearly triple the capacity of FASTER.

Microsoft and Facebook’s cable, which is dubbed “Marea,” will span a distance of a distance of over 4,100 miles between Virginia Beach, Virginia and Bilbao, Spain. Construction on Marea is set to begin in August 2016 with an expected completion date of October 2017.

Photo by Moyan_Brenn