Are Facebook and Google buying cable networks to stop governments spying on them? Google now owns 100,000 miles of fibre optic cable routes globally Facebook also extended its network in Europe by buying unused cables By owning the cables, companies can control how much traffic they send This stops internet providers from throttling traffic - making services faster It also prevents governments from being able to spy on their services Step aside Virgin, BT and Sky, we could soon be able to buy our internet from websites including Google and Facebook. The online giants have been gradually buying up miles of unused fibre optic cables in a bid to expand their networks and control how much traffic they can send. Reports in the Wall Street Journal also state that by owning private networks the companies can stop governments from being able to track what they get up to. Web giants Google and Facebook have been buying up miles of unused fibre optic cables in a bid to expand their networks and control how much traffic they send. Stock image of cabling pictured. By owning private networks, the companies can stop governments from being able to track what they get up to During the late 1990s many companies laid more cable than they needed, meaning there were entire networks left unused. When fibre is used, it is â€˜lit upâ€™, meaning these unused cables are considered dark. In 2008, Google invested in a Â£300million cable project to connect California to Japan. It later bought up a further 6,000 miles of cable across Asian countries, including Singapore. Google now owns 100,000 miles of cable routes globally. In November it announced the Google Fiber project in Kansas City that connects home in the region to its 1 gigabit service for around $70 (Â£43) a month. In June, Facebook extended its European network and expanded its services to a data centre near the Arctic Circle. Both companies have also invested in submarine cables in waters around Asia. Legally, governments can submit court orders to companies for information and data held on their networks, whether its a private network or not. If Google and other companies are leasing cable from a broadband provider, the provider will be served the order and it will be their decision to release information, for example. By owning their own networks, web companies can be the gatekeeper for this information and have greater control over what the government gets access to. It can also give a better indication as to exactly how governments are monitoring them and their networks. Until recently, many of the cables laid under the ground, and in the sea known as submarine cables, were owned by network operators and broadband providerfs such as Virgin Media and BT in the UK and Sprint and AT&T in the U.S. According to the reports, Google now owns 100,000 miles of cable routes, and in November it announced the Google Fiber project which is currently only available in Kansas City. By comparison, this is more than double the amount of cable routes owned by U.S. operator Sprint, according to WSJ. The enormous quantity of cables means that Google is beginning to rival some of the telecom companies that have up until now considered them as clients. The Google Fiber project means houses in the area can swap their internet service provider for Google's service, which the company claims is 100 times faster than average speeds. Until recently, many of the cables, pictured, were owned by network operators and broadband providers. By owning the cables themselves, web companies can reduce costs. They can also serve as much traffic as they want, meaning that videos don't buffer and pages load quicker at peak times, for example Google Fiber costs $70 (Â£43) a month for 1GB or $120 (Â£74) with a TV subscription. Previously, websites could either rent cables from these providers, or pay a fee to use them. These providers could then control how much traffic was sent over the network, and at certain times could even â€˜throttleâ€™ the traffic to avoid the network from crashing when a lot of people tried to access it. By owning the cables themselves, companies can reduce costs and increase investment into making the services faster. They can also serve as much traffic as they want, meaning that videos donâ€™t buffer and pages load quicker at peak times, for example. During the late 1990s, many companies laid more cable than they needed, meaning there were entire networks left unused. Web companies have been buying this so-called dark fibre to create more effective and faster ways to satisfy the growing traffic to its services.