Meta plans globe-spanning sub-sea web cable

Meta has introduced plans to construct a 50,000km (31,000 mile) sub-sea cable the world over.

The tech big mentioned Undertaking Waterworth – connecting the US, India, South Africa, Brazil and different areas – would be the world’s longest underwater cable mission when accomplished.

Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp, has sought to increase its presence in expertise past social media, together with in synthetic intelligence (AI) and the infrastructure that helps it.

It mentioned its new cable mission would supply “industry-leading connectivity” to 5 main continents and assist assist its AI tasks.

“This mission will allow higher financial co-operation, facilitate digital inclusion, and open alternatives for technological growth in these areas,” Meta mentioned in a weblog publish.

The cable can be the longest so far that makes use of a 24 fibre-pair system, giving it the next capability, in line with the agency.

Sub-sea cables have develop into more and more necessary as they supply the means to energy a wide range of digital companies and switch information worldwide at pace.

One regularly-cited statistic suggests greater than 95% of the world’s web visitors is transferred by way of undersea cables.

Telecommunications market analysis agency TeleGeography says there are at the moment greater than 600 publicly-known sub-sea cable methods worldwide.

This consists of the 2Africa cable, backed by Meta and cell community operators corresponding to Orange, Vodafone and China Cellular, which hyperlinks three continents and spans 45,000km.

Tech corporations that function main suppliers of internet companies have invested enormous sums in cable infrastructure.

Google mentioned in 2024 it could construct the primary sub-sea cable connecting Africa and Australia, and introduced a $1bn funding to spice up connectivity to Japan with two new sub-sea cables within the Pacific Ocean.

“Over the previous decade there was a shift during which these cables are more and more laid by giant expertise corporations,” Professor Vili Lehdonvirta of the Oxford Web Institute advised the BBC.

He mentioned that is in distinction to the previous, the place underwater cables have been laid and financed by giant teams of nationwide telecoms corporations, on account of their appreciable funding wants.

Prof Lehdonvirta mentioned this displays the rising measurement and place of massive tech corporations to have the ability to fund such infrastructure independently – one thing that “could also be vital to coverage makers involved with focus in digital markets”.

Telecoms and expertise {industry} analyst Paolo Pescatore mentioned it spoke to Meta’s ambitions.

“Meta has proven a powerful need to personal extra of the connectivity slice,” he advised the BBC.

“This can be a additional demonstration because it seeks to leapfrog rivals in offering customers with an distinctive expertise by tightly integrating {hardware}, software program, platform and its rising aspirations in connectivity,” he added.

The rising significance of sub-sea cables has elevated issues over their vulnerability to assaults or accidents.

Following a spate of severed cables, specialists have mentioned undersea communications infrastructure is a rising enviornment for geopolitical tensions and battle.

Nato launched a mission in January to extend surveillance of ships within the Baltic Sea after harm to crucial undersea cables final yr.

A UK parliamentary committee just lately issued a name for proof concerning the UK’s resilience within the face of potential disruption.

This mentioned pointed to rising concern over “Russian and Chinese language capabilities to carry undersea infrastructure in danger – notably in periods of heightened stress or battle”.

Meta mentioned in its weblog publish asserting Undertaking Waterworth it could lay its cable system as much as 7,000 meters deep and “use enhanced burial methods in high-risk fault areas, corresponding to shallow waters close to the coast, to keep away from harm from ship anchors and different hazards”.

Prof Lehdonvirta mentioned the mission appeared to diverge from extra established routes, corresponding to by skipping Europe and China and avoiding “geopolitical hotspots” within the Suez canal and South China sea.

And he mentioned connecting the US with main, contested markets within the Southern hemisphere might be seen as “bolstering US financial and infrastructural energy overseas”.