Meta is building the ‘mother of all’ subsea cables

Meta is reportedly planning to build a world-spanning fiber-optic subsea cable for its own exclusive use. According to TechCrunch, the $10 billion project will create a new 40,000+ kilometer (about 24,850 miles) cable network around the world that avoids “areas of geopolitical tension” where subsea cables have been sabotaged, such as the Red Sea, the South China Sea, Egypt, Marseilles, the Straits of Malacca, and Singapore.

While Meta is already a part-owner of 16 existing networks, this new cable project would be entirely owned by the company — allowing it full control to prioritize traffic to its own products and services. That would bring Meta in line with Google’s efforts, which privately owns a handful of cable routes and has invested in 33 others.

Subsea cable expert Sunil Tagare first reported on Meta’s plan to build the “mother of all submarine cables” — dubbed “W,” for its shape — back in October, estimating that the effort would require a $10 billion investment and likely take between 5-10 years to complete. TechCrunch says the plans are still in the early stages, and that Meta is expected to reveal more — such as the capacity, intended route, and why it’s privately building the cable — sometime in early 2025.

The rumored route for Meta’s undersea cable would span from the US east coast and back to the west coast via connection points in India, South Africa, and Australia. The goal is to avoid building in regions that have seen a recent spate of cable cuts, which rely on a secretive global network of ships to repair.