Google has become "the first non-telecom company to take an active role in ownership of a submarine cable," says Alan Mauldin, research director of TeleGeography.

The $300 million Unity cable will run beneath the Pacific Ocean, between the U.S. and Japan. Google is partnering with five telecoms to build it.

Mauldin doesn't see Google's investment as the beginning of a trend in cable investments by non-telecom companies -- but in a Big Switch world, who knows?

The Unity cable is one of four new trans-Pacific projects that will more than double available capacity beneath the planet's largest ocean. Last year, we said the internet was not likely to choke on traffic, especially at its core. Last month, we said it again.

A cool map of undersea cables at the TeleGeography site.