• by Colin Kirkland , December 2, 2024

To ensure its own global data traffic, while also expanding connection capacity to more regions, Meta is planning to build a fiber-optic subsea cable that will be approximately 24,850 miles long and avoid historically tumultuous geopolitical climates. For reference, the equatorial circumference of Earth is 24,901 miles.

Meta's project is likely to cost around $10 billion and may be “W”-shaped, stretching 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, as first reported on by TechCrunch.

Subsea cable expert Sunil Tagare estimated Meta's plans would take between five and ten years to complete.

Unlike its previous subsea cable build in Africa -- the “2Africa” project, which Meta partnered with regional service providers on while remaining open to a range of services -- the tech giant’s plans for this upcoming project are private, casting aside other entities and leaving the cable entirely dedicated to the user traffic across Meta's family of apps.

As the world’s second-largest driver of internet usage, Meta accounts for 10% of all fixed traffic and 22% of all mobile traffic, making a case for reliable infrastructure.

Based on its route, the cable would power expanded connectivity in India, potentially prioritizing artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) in the region.

Tagare believes that due to India's cost for compute bandwidth is a fraction of the price in the U.S. -- and because of the region’s newfound excitement around AI, “India could become the training capital of the world.”

The subsea cable's route also avoids the Red Sea, the South China Sea, Egypt, Marseilles, the Strait of Malacca, and Singapore -- all deemed “areas of geopolitical tension” where subsea cables have been sabotaged in the past.

According to TechCrunch, Meta is expected to reveal more about the project early in 2025.