Alphabet’s Google will build three subsea cables in Papua New Guinea, which the largest Pacific Island nation said was funded by Australia under a mutual defence treaty, in a key upgrade to its digital backbone.
Australian and U.S. military strategists view resource-rich but largely under-developed Papua New Guinea as having a prized location north of Australia at a time when China is boosting its influence in the region.
The $120-million effort will link northern and southern Papua New Guinea and the Bougainville autonomous region with high-capacity cables, Peter Tsiamalili, PNG’s acting minister for information and communications technology, said on Friday.
“The entire investment (is) funded through Australia’s commitments under the Pukpuk Treaty,” he said in a statement, referring to a mutual defence pact signed in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alphabet’s Google will build three subsea cables in Papua New Guinea, which the largest Pacific Island nation said was funded by Australia under a mutual defence treaty, in a key upgrade to its digital backbone.Australian and U.S. military strategists view resource-rich but largely under-developed Papua New Guinea as having a prized location north of Australia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n