Tuesday Map: The great Internet buildout

At least $6.4 billion of new, transoceanic cable lines will be installed in the coming years, according to Technology Review. The chart below, a snapshot of a larger interactive map, shows some of the new cable routes in the works.

The white lines represent preexisting cables, and the colors represent different new underseas fiber cable routes. For instance, cable-laying projects are planned for 2009 to connect Greenland to both Canada and Iceland. The Red Sea, the east coast of Africa, and the Caribbean are the sites of fresh projects, and new fiber will link the West coast of the United States with China and Japan. The new cables will provide greater bandwidth, allowing data to be transferred faster across the globe -- good news for YouTube addicts. And according to Technology Review, damages to existing cables and bad connections have led many poorer countries to rely on pricey satellite connections. With cheaper access for all, could a new Internet boom be on the way?