Meta plans globe-spanning sub-sea internet cable

Meta has announced plans to build a 50,000-kilometer (31,000-mile) subsea cable around the world.

The tech giant stated that the cable, dubbed "Project Waterworth," will connect regions such as the United States, India, South Africa, and Brazil, becoming the world's longest subsea cable project upon completion. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has been working to expand its technological influence beyond social media, including artificial intelligence (AI) and the infrastructure that supports it.

Meta stated that its new cable project will provide "industry-leading connectivity" to five continents and will help support its artificial intelligence projects. "This project will foster greater economic collaboration, promote digital inclusion, and create opportunities for technological development in these regions," Meta said in a blog post.

According to the company, the cable will be the longest to date to use a 24 fiber pair system, resulting in higher capacity. Subsea cables are becoming increasingly important as they power a variety of digital services and transmit data globally at high speeds. A frequently cited statistic shows that over 95% of global internet traffic is transmitted via subsea cables.

TeleGeography, a telecommunications market research firm, states that there are currently over 600 publicly available subsea cable systems worldwide. This includes the 2Africa cable, supported by Meta and mobile network operators such as Orange, Vodafone, and China Mobile, which connects three continents and spans 45,000 kilometers. Tech companies that are major network service providers have invested heavily in cable infrastructure.

Professor Vili Lehdonvirta of the Oxford Internet Institute said, "In the past decade, these cables have increasingly been laid by large tech companies, which is a shift." He stated that this contrasts with the past, when subsea cables were laid and funded by large groups of national telecommunications companies, as they require significant investment. Professor Lehdonvirta stated that this reflects the increasing size and status of large tech companies, which are able to independently fund such infrastructure – which "may have important implications for policymakers concerned about digital market concentration."

Telecommunications and technology industry analyst Paolo Pescatore stated that this demonstrates Meta's ambition. He told the BBC: "Meta has shown a strong desire to have more connectivity areas. This is further proof as it seeks to surpass competitors in providing users with a unique experience by tightly integrating hardware, software, platforms, and its growing desire for connectivity."

Subsea cables are becoming increasingly important, and there are growing concerns that they are vulnerable to attack or accidents. Following a series of cable cuts, experts stated that subsea communications infrastructure is becoming an increasing area of geopolitical tension and conflict. NATO launched a mission in January to increase surveillance of ships in the Baltic Sea after key subsea cables were damaged last year. A UK parliamentary committee recently issued a call for evidence on the UK's resilience in the face of potential disruption.

In the blog post announcing Project Waterworth, Meta stated that it will lay the cable system at a depth of 7,000 meters and "use enhanced burial techniques in high-risk failure areas (such as shallow water near the coast) to avoid damage from ship anchors and other hazards." Professor Lehdonvirta stated that the project appears to deviate from more established routes, such as skipping Europe and China and avoiding the "geopolitical hotspots" of the Suez Canal and the South China Sea. He also stated that connecting the United States with major competing markets in the Southern Hemisphere could be seen as "enhancing the economic and infrastructure power of the United States abroad."