On Tuesday morning, the official launch ceremony for Google’s Nuvem transatlantic submarine cable system took place at Lisbon’s Oceanarium. The project represents a new investment which, as Minister Delegate for State Reform Gonçalo Matias said in his speech at the event, aims to link “North America and Europe along a new digital corridor that crosses the Atlantic”.
At a time when “around 95% of all the world’s data travels through submarine cables”, the minister explained, Portugal is stepping up to become one of the main players in a project that will be the first to connect the country directly to the United States. But what exactly is “Nuvem”, what does it hope to achieve and what role will Portugal play in its development?
A new submarine cable system
The project was first announced by Google in 2023 (source in Portuguese), and was immediately described as “a new transatlantic submarine cable system to link Portugal, Bermuda and the United States”.
According to the company, on the US side “Nuvem will make landfall in South Carolina”, specifically Myrtle Beach. In Portugal, Sines will be the landing station, with intermediate points in Bermuda and the Azores.
With a length of approximately 7,000 kilometres, this cable system consists of 16 pairs of fibre-optic cables, for a total capacity of around 384 terabits per second, Reuters reports. (source in Portuguese)
However, according to the newspaper “ECO”, (source in Portuguese) the new submarine cable system is only expected to come into operation next year.
Why are these cables important?
Fibre-optic submarine cables are the backbone of the global internet. (source in Portuguese) They are responsible for carrying around 99% of all international data traffic, from calls, messages and videos to payments. Without them, global communications, financial transactions and cloud services would be unworkable, as satellites do not have sufficient bandwidth capacity.
Unlike satellites, which can be affected by weather conditions, the cables rest on the deep ocean floor, protected by multiple layers of steel, copper and polymers that shield them from pressure, currents and even shark attacks.
Submarine cables are of course not completely immune to failures, but most occur accidentally through human activity, such as fishing or anchoring, followed by natural risks such as earthquakes, undersea landslides and tsunamis. In addition, challenges such as ageing infrastructure and complex regulatory environments can complicate efforts to maintain resilience.
Nuvem’s objectives
When it announced the project, Google itself said (source in Portuguese) that Nuvem was intended “to improve network resilience in the Atlantic and help meet growing demand for digital services”.
The same source added that the “route of the new cable” is designed “to add diversity to international routes and support the development of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure for the continents and countries involved”.
On Tuesday, in his speech at the institutional ceremony for the project, Portuguese minister Gonçalo Matias said that putting this new system in place “does more than add another line” across the Atlantic, creating “alternative paths for data transmission” and reducing “Europe’s dependence on a small number of congested corridors”. It therefore offers “resilience”, he concluded.
Who is involved?
The minister also explained in his address that the Nuvem system is a project “built on partnership, between Google and MEO, between public ambition and private investment, between two nations, Portugal and the United States, long united by the same ocean that now carries our data”.
MEO will therefore also be a key player. In a statement quoted by the Lusa news agency (source in Portuguese), the Portuguese company confirmed that it will also “join the Nuvem submarine cable system”, becoming “an investor and national partner in one of the most important digital infrastructures in the Atlantic”.
MEO did not, however, specify what investment it will make under the project, saying only that “by establishing a direct connection between Portugal and the US, the system also strengthens the country’s attractiveness for investment in data centres, cloud platforms and global technology services”.
“Nuvem” follows “Firmina” and “Equiano”
This is not, however, the first investment of this kind made by Google in the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, “in 2022, Equiano helped bring Europe and Africa closer together”, Portuguese minister Gonçalo Matias also recalled on Tuesday.
As described by the US tech giant (source in Portuguese), this is a submarine cable that “starts in Western Europe and runs along Africa’s west coast, linking Portugal to South Africa and increasing connectivity and opportunities for engagement between European and African countries”.
It was followed by the installation of Firmina, a huge submarine cable laid by the company to connect the east coast of the United States, once again via South Carolina, to South America (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay), and therefore not involving Portugal.
Still under Google’s umbrella, Portugal also expects to be, as early as next year, the focus of another project: Sol, minister Gonçalo Matias noted.
This will in turn be “a new transatlantic submarine cable system that will connect the US, Bermuda, the Azores and Spain”, the US company said (source in Portuguese) when it announced the project, which thus completes the company’s “unique investment” in “transatlantic resilience”.
Why Portugal?
The question was in fact addressed by minister Gonçalo Matias in his speech on Tuesday. “Why here? Why Portugal? The most obvious answer is geography. We are located at the westernmost edge of Europe, at the point closest to the Americas, the natural bridge to Africa,” stressed the minister responsible for State Reform. Indeed, Google itself had already highlighted this, pointing out that the country’s “strategic geographical location in south-western mainland Europe” has turned it into a “hub for submarine cables”.
However, the minister added that the country offers “stability, in a world where this is scarce”; “talent: engineers, researchers, a young generation versed in technology and languages”; and also “clean, competitive energy, which data centres need just as much as they need connectivity”.
Portugal is in fact one of the European leaders in the energy transition. In the “Environmental Portrait of Portugal” (source in Portuguese) produced by Pordata to mark World Environment Day, on 5 June, it was noted that the country is among the four EU member states where more than 95% of energy produced comes from renewable sources (97.8%), based on 2024 data.
However, for Google (source in Portuguese), another factor has proved important: the country’s “focus on strengthening the infrastructure of the digital economy”.