A cabinet undersecretary revealed on Tuesday that Alphabet's Google was in discussions with the Italian government about plans to establish base stations in Sicily in order to develop infrastructure for an underwater fiber optic cable system across the Mediterranean.

Alessio butti, the undersecretary of the Group of Seven Advanced Democracies, told reporters that Google was very interested. "We're holding discussions about base stations in Sicily."

Google has already partnered with Telecom Italia (TIM)'s submarine cable unit Sparkle to operate two submarine cables systems that link the Middle East and southern Europe with Asia.

Sparkle will be sold by TIM and Asterion in November. Exclusive talks began this month with Italy's Treasury.

Butti stated that the government views Sparkle as an important company, as 95-99% of Internet traffic is transmitted through submarine cables. Around 16% of this traffic involves the Mediterranean Sea. Reporting by Elvira pollina Editing Bernadettebaum

(source: Reuters)