| Google is believed to be in talks to take on lease 500 GB bandwidth and this, according to industry sources, puts the deal size at around $80-100 million (Rs 320-400 crore). |
| According to sources close to the development, the companies have initiated talks to set up a joint cable under a "cooperative arrangement". |
| Under the broad contours of the discussions, Flag Telecom will sell dark fibre to Google. This will help Google save the cost of duplicating a fibre optic network, which would cost around $350-380 million (Rs 1,400-1,500 crore). |
| With the availability of dark fibre, Google will only need to invest in lighting up the cable, and it would give the company a self-managed, fully secure network. |
| While for Reliance Communications, with such a pre-sale deal, it would get a reasonable proportion of the capex that would be used for construction of the cable. |
| When contacted, a Reliance Communications spokesperson declined to comment. |
| Sources also said Reliance Communications would also look at selling lit-capacity on its global internet protocol networks to Google. Flag has lit-up capacity on its Falcon cable in Wes Asia and other cables on the Mediterranean and East African coasts. |
| Flag Telecom had recently announced its plan to set up trans-Pacific cable, under its Rs 6,000 crore next- generation network expansion plan. A cable on the trans-Pacific route would cost around Rs 1,400-1,500 crore. ($350-380 million). |
| Flag has recently awarded construction of its four submarine cables under the Flag NGN plan to Japanese giant Fujitsu. |
| The move also gains importance as Google was planning to set up its own sub-sea cable across Pacific, under a project called Unity. However, it could not be ascertained whether Google would go ahead with the project or shelve it by leasing a portion of Flag's trans-Pacific system. |
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