An undersea cable that Google helped finance is almost finished, according to a new report.  Indeed, the completion of the Unity fiber optic cable, which will connect the U.S. to Japan, is supposed to be announced next week, and then Google and the company’s Asia-based users should start seeing the benefits soon after.

Tom Krazit wrote this afternoon, "[T]he Pacific undertaking will allow the company to link its data centers in the U.S. and Japan with one of the fastest pipes on the planet, ensuring that Google services will be delivered quickly and cheaply to Asia."

And more specifically, Krazit also stated, "In return for its investment–the amount of which was not disclosed–Google is entitled to 20 percent of the overall capacity for its needs, according to partners involved with the project."

This should help keep Google competitive in most of Asia for quite a while.  All the more so if it pulls out of China, too, since servicing that large market could otherwise claim a lot of resources.

One last important note: the other partners in the Unity Consortium are Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI, Pacnet, and SingTel, meaning Google has made friends with some very important international corporations.