MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA — Because of political conflicts in the Middle East, almost all of the Internet traffic between Europe and India currently goes through the region's one relatively neutral country, Egypt.<br /><br />Google, which is competing with Facebook to build high-speed cable networks worldwide, wants to change this dependence on Egypt by running its planned Europe-to-India cable over Israel and Saudi Arabia. <br /><br />According to the Wall Street Journal, Google's planned cable would for the first time connect through these two historical enemies — Saudi Arabia and Israel. <br /><br />The Journal says the breakthrough project follows deals orchestrated by the Trump administration that have created new diplomatic relationships between Gulf Arab states and Israel. <br /><br />The Journal reports that analysts say the Egyptian government charges telecom operators some of the heaviest fees to traverse its land and waters, which can add up to 50% of the cost of a route from Europe to India. <br /><br />Expanded connectivity between Europe and India would also help Google roll out data centers globally.
