Humboldt Route to Connect Chile, French Polynesia, and Australia
By Brian Quigley, Google Cloud Blog
January 11, 2024
Today, we’re joining Desarrollo País of Chile and Office of Posts and Telecommunications of French Polynesia (OPT) to announce Humboldt, a subsea cable route linking Chile, French Polynesia, and Australia — the first ever to directly connect South America and Asia-Pacific. When operational, Humboldt will strengthen the reliability and resilience of digital connectivity across the Pacific by interconnecting the cables that comprise the South Pacific Connect initiative and adding geographically diverse cable investments that link French Polynesia and Chile.
A direct fiber optic network link between South America and the Asia-Pacific region has been an ambition of the Chilean government since 2016, and we’re partnering to turn this vision into reality.
“Chile is a country that is at the forefront of technology and is a leader in the implementation of the latest generation networks. As a Government, we are working day by day to consolidate this position and create the conditions for new investments of this kind to continue to arrive. The interest of companies like Google shows that Chile is doing things right. The country is leveraging its potential to generate the growth that will help us improve the well-being and quality of life of the people. These are projects that create employment and later, when they become a reality, improve the working conditions of thousands of people, in addition to placing Chile as a leader in the region and strengthening its position as the gateway from South America to the digital world.” – Juan Carlos Muñoz, Transportation and Telecommunications Minister of Chile
“Australia welcomes this new trans-Pacific cable connecting Australia and Latin America for the first time, supporting the growth of digital and economic ties. This new cable route will enhance Australia’s global connectivity and complement our work with Pacific countries to secure better access to the global digital economy.” – Hon Michelle Rowland MP, Minister for Communications of Australia
“Economic vitality in my country relies on investments in the digital sector. We are thrilled to collaborate on the Humboldt project to continue advancing French Polynesia’s digital economy and keep Tahiti on the cutting edge of innovation.” – President Moetai Brotherson of French Polynesia
