Meta to Build Around-the-World Subsea Cable – Report
By Niva Yadav, Data Center Dynamics
October 24, 2024
Meta is reportedly planning to build a new around-the-world subsea cable, running from one side of the US to the other, via the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans.
According to the Subseacables blog, written by industry observer Roderick Beck, and subsea cable entrepreneur Sunil Tagare, the 40,000km cable will see an investment of $2 billion.
Two possible routes have been suggested for the cable. Tagare suggested that the cable – dubbed W for its shape – will run from the east coast of the US to India with one stop in South Africa, and then from India to the west coast of the US with one more stop in Darwin, Australia.
Beck instead suggested the cable would branch from Mumbai to Singapore, potentially extending to Australia and Japan. He added the cable may also include a landing point in Lisbon, before heading out to West Africa’s coast.
The estimated capacity of the cable is 320Tbps.
The cable will entirely avoid the Red Sea, the South China Sea, and Egypt; all areas that have been problematic for subsea cables in recent years.
The cable, which is expected to be 100 percent owned by Meta, is speculated to land in Jio facilities in India.
DCD reached out to Meta, but it declined to comment.
Meta currently has involvement in several subsea cables, including the Echo, Bifrost, Havhingsten, Amite, and Anjana cables. Its 2Africa cable is now partly operational.