The Proa subsea cable connects Japan, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam.

Proa is named after the traditional sailing canoes of the Marianas.

To further increase reliability in the region, Google's Taiwan-Philippines-U.S. (known as TPU) will be extended to the CNMI. As the CNMI’s first international subsea cables, Proa and TPU will together establish a new route between the continental U.S. and Shima, Japan.

The Proa subsea cable is part of Google's North Pacific Connect initiative, which Google announced on 10^th April 2024 amid a visit to the U.S. by the Japanese prime minister to boost the U.S.-Japan Alliance. 

Under the North Pacific Connect initiative, Google commits $1 billion investment in digital connectivity for the North Pacific Connect, which expands the Pacific Connect Initiative, with NEC, to improve digital communications infrastructure between the United States, Japan and Pacific Island Nations.

In addition to the Proa subsea cable, the North Pacific Connect initiative includes the Taihei subsea cable connecting Japan to Hawaii, and an interlink cable connecting Hawaii, the CNMI, and Guam. This interlink connects the transpacific routes, improving their reliability and reducing latency for users in the Pacific Islands and around the world.

The North Pacific Connect initiative extends Google's Pacific Connect initiative which comprises the South Pacific Connect and the Central Pacific Connect initiatives announced by Google in November 2023 and January 2024 respectively.

Google partners with KDDI, ARTERIA, Citadel Pacific, and the CNMI for the North Pacific Connect initiative. 

Among the parters, Citadel Pacific Ltd. is a diversified private holding company with operations in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, the Republic of Palau, the CNMI, and the US Territory of Guam. CITADEL is owned by the Delgado family of the Philippines.

Japanese ARTERIA Networks Corportation supports Google to provide landing facilities in Takahagi, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, for the landing of the Taihei subsea cable. Google has landed at the Takahagi cable landing station its Topaz subsea cable connecting Japan and Canada.

KDDI supports Google as the landing partner in Shima, Japan, for the landing of the Proa subsea cable. KDDI has landed FASTER subsea cable at the Shima cable landing station, with Google as a member of the FASTER consortium.

Japanese NEC is the supplier for both Proa and Taihei subsea cables.

The Proa cable system is privately owned and controlled by Starfish Infrastructure Inc. (Starfish) and its affiliates. Starfish is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Google LLC. Both Google and Starfish are incorporated in Delaware, the United States.

The Proa cable system is designed with 16 fiber pairs and a minimum design capacity of approximately 25Tbps per fiber pair using current DWDM technology and optical fiber switching technology, comprising the following segments:

• Segment from Shima (Japan) to a branching unit (BU) in the Philippine Sea, landing at KDDI Shima CLS.
• Segment from the same BU to Tanguisson (Guam), landing at AT&T Tanguisson CLS.
• Segment from the same BU to Tinian in the CNMI, landing at a new cable landing station constructed and owned by Unicornfish Services Inc. (Unicornfish), a Google affiliate.