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Meta plans to build a $10B subsea cable spanning the world, sources say
- Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, plans to build a new, major, fibre-optic subsea cable extending around the world — a 40,000+ kilometer project that could total more than $10 billion of investment.
- The cable would give Meta a dedicated pipe for data traffic around the world. The planned route of the cable currently sees it spanning from the east coast of the U.S. to India via South Africa, and then to the west coast of the U.S. from India via Australia.
- Meta will be the sole owner and user of this subsea cable — a first for the company and thus representing a milestone for its infrastructure efforts.
- The plan is to start with a budget of $2 billion but as the project builds out that figure is likely to go up to more than $10 billion as the project extends into years of work.
- According to telecom analysts, Meta is part-owner of 16 existing networks, including most recently the 2Africa cable that encircles the continent.
- Fiber-optic subsea cables have been a part of communications infrastructure for the last 40 years. Meta’s plans underscore how investment and ownership of subsea networks has shifted in recent years from consortiums involving telecoms carriers to big tech giants.
- Several times in recent years, subsea cables have been taken down as collateral or direct damage from warfare. The route as envisioned by Meta is intended to help the company “avoid areas of geopolitical tension,” a source close to the company told TechCrunch.
- Tech companies want to have more direct ownership of the pipes needed to deliver content, advertising and more to users around the world. Having priority on dedicated subsea cabling can help ensure quality of service on that traffic.
- Meta has an opportunity to build out data center capacity in India specifically for training and working with AI models, and the subsea cable could play a role in that effort.
- Sources close to the project describe AI as part of the “long tail” of considerations and possibilities, along with whether Meta would open capacity to other users alongside itself.
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