Google backs new São Paulo-Rio undersea cable
Google will finance the implementation of a new submarine cable linking the two Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
The new link, dubbed "Júnior" (after Brazilian painter José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior) will be 390km long, composed of eight pairs of fiber optic cables with maximum data transfer speed of 13 terabits per second.
Google has already invested in two other submarine cables that will support the Brazil's data transfer and connectivity needs: Monet, which will link the Latin American country to the United States and Tannat, another cable between Brazil to Uruguay.
Differently to the Monet and Tannat links, the Júnior cable will only cater to Google's own data transfer requirements.
The web giant hired Brazilian company Padtec to build the infrastructure for the new cable including the optical repeater devices used to amplify the signal that goes through the network and ensure the data transfer speed.
Padtec's president Manuel Andrade told Brazilian newspaper Valor that the repeaters took three years to be developed at a cost of R$45m ($12.4m).
It is expected that Júnior, which will be the 15th submarine cable in operation in Brazil, will be fully operational in August 2017.