Meta is planning to build a 40,000-kilometer fiber-optic subsea cable to span the entire length of the globe. This project is expected to cost over $10 billion, say some experts, and will connect the East Coast of the U.S. to South Africa, India, and Australia before going up across the Pacific to the West Coast. However, TechCrunch says that the biggest thing about this planned undersea cable is that Meta will be its sole owner and user. This means that the tech giant will guarantee global connectivity for its services, ensuring that its traffic will always be a priority in its subsea cable.
Aside from this reason, the planned route shows that it will bypass areas with instability. Suspected undersea cable sabotage has been on the rise lately, with one recent incident involving a Chinese ship traveling from Russia to Egypt suspected of intentionally dragging its anchor across two marked undersea cables. This act damaged two connections—one between Finland and Germany and another between Sweden and Lithuania—disrupting traffic between them. Because of this, one source says the company will “avoid geopolitical tension,” including high-traffic areas like the Red Sea, the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, and Singapore.
