The subsea cable system – Topaz will not only deliver low-latency access to Search, Gmail and YouTube, Google Cloud, and other Google services but will also increase the capacity of a number of network operators in Japan and Canada.

April 25, 2022

Google, along with a few local partners in Japan and Canada, is spearheading the construction and development of Topaz which is the first-ever fibre cable system to link Canada and Asia. Upon its completion, Topaz will start from Vancouver, the small town of Port Alberni on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, and across the Pacific Ocean to the prefectures of Mie and Ibaraki in Japan.

As informed by Google, the development of the subsea cable project is expected to be completed in 2023. Topaz will not only deliver low-latency access to Search, Gmail and YouTube, Google Cloud, and other Google services but will also increase capacity to the region for a variety of network operators in both Japan and Canada.

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Although Topaz is the first trans-Pacific fibre cable to land on the West Coast of Canada, the first communication cable to connect to Vancouver Island was the Commonwealth Pacific Cable System (COMPAC). It was a copper undersea cable linking Vancouver with Honolulu (United States), Sydney (Australia), and Auckland (New Zealand), for high-quality international phone connectivity. COMPAC is no longer in service but the original cable landing station in Vancouver has been upgraded and will house the eastern end of the Topaz cable.

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In addition to Topaz, Google has also announced investments in 20 subsea cable projects, including Curie, Dunant, Equiano, Firmina, and Grace Hopper, and consortium cables – Blue, Echo, Havfrue, and Raman. These cable projects will draw a connection between 29 cloud regions, 88 zones, 146 network edge locations spanning over 200 countries, and territories.