Web search company Google has agreed to build an undersea cable with five telecoms operators that will link the US to Japan, and provide the capacity to sustain a surge in Internet traffic between the continents.

Siemens plans to announce that it intends to eliminate up to 7,000 jobs, or 40 % of the workers in its troubled business telecommunications unit in Germany and Brazil, as it seeks a buyer for the business, a person with direct knowledge of the situation said.