Quite some time ago, Google and a number of other companies announced their intent to create something called the Southeast Asia Japan Cable (SJC).  This week, there was confirmation that the undersea fiber optic project is progressing.

Bobbie Johnson wrote today, "The agreement to build the submarine cable was first proposed three years ago, but negotiations finally came to a close on Wednesday as officials signed what they promised was a groundbreaking deal."

Bharti (of India), Globe Telecom (the Philippines), KDDI (Japan), Reliance Globalcom (Bermuda), and Telemedia Pacific (Hong Kong/Indonesia) will all be involved in addition to America's favorite search engine.  As for the cable itself, it'll stretch between China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore at first, with extensions possible in the future.

The SJC should allow individual and corporate Internet users in the region to transfer information (including ads) at much higher speeds and lower costs.  It might create a couple of redundancies, too, in the event that earthquakes or anchor-dragging ships disrupt existing lines of communication.

The SJC should be completed by the second quarter of 2012.  It carries an estimated price tag of $400 million.

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