Meta confirms ‘Project Waterworth,’ a global subsea cable project spanning 50,000km


Back in November, we broke the news That meta – owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, with billions of users Accounting For 10% of all fixed and 22% of all mobile traffic – were close to an announcement of a major new, $ 10 billion+ submarine project to connect the globe. The goal was to give Meta more control of how it works its own services.

Today meta confirmed details of our report: Project Waterworth is the official nameAnd it will be 50,000 kilometers long when completed, making it the world’s longest underwater cable project.

Joining what we have heard about the project months ago, the network will connect five continents with landing points in the United States, Brazil, India, South Africa and other key regions. Facebook particularly evokes the opportunities in India, and the role that the network will play, as it devises AI services worldwide, as two key reasons to build the network.

As for the network itself, Meta says it will break new land with its architecture, using 24 fiber even cables, and what it describes as a first-type routing, “maximize the cable placed in deep water-at depths up to 7,000 meters” along with New burial techniques to reduce failures in areas considered “high risk”, either because of geographical issues, either politics – and sometimes both.

An image showing the underlying cable around the globe, going between the United States, South -Africa, India and much of the Asian region
The underwater cable around the United States, South Africa, India and Asia. Image Credit: Meta

Previously, we noticed that one of the main factors in the market affecting Meta to build its own underlying infrastructure was geopolitics. That actually played a role here.

Thursdayaud the White House issued Joint Leaders Declaration By US President Trump and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi of India, which has detailed a long list of areas where the two countries will work together. Enclosed into this long document was a commitment to cooperate underlying technologies (as part of a defensive partnership) as well as a note of Meta’s 50,000km water project, and India’s role in funding some of it.

“Supporting greater Indian ocean connectivity, the leaders also welcomed Meta’s announcement of a multi-million, multi-year investment in a underlying cable project that will start work this year,” the statement noted. “India intends to invest in maintenance, repair and funding of underlying cables in the Indian Ocean, using reliable vendors.”

As for what the cable will be used: in November, one of our sources demanded that the growth of AI data centers and cloud services in India, the most populous country, was a major reason for the Meta project in the first place.

Meta refused to comment us on more specific details, but provided some advanced ideas on applications and emphasized the country and AI on its blog.

“Digital communication, video experts and online transactions” are among the applications that the underwater cable will enable, according to a blog post written by the VP of Meta Engineering Nagarajan -style and its global head of online investments Alex-Handrah Aimé. “Project Waterworth will be a multi-million dollar, multi-year investment to strengthen the scale and reliability of the digital highways of the world by opening three new ocean corridors with the abundant, high-speed connectivity needed to operate AI innovation around the world.”

This is not Meta’s first underwater cable effort, nor is it the only main technology company to build its own underlying infrastructure.

According to telecommunications analysts TelegeographyMeta is a part owner of 16 existing networks, including the 2ndafrica cable, which surrounds the continent (others in this project are carriers, including Orange, Vodafone, China Mobile, Bayobab/MTN, and more). This new cable project would be the first completely owned by Meta itself.

This would put Meta in the same category as Google, which has involvement in some 33 different routes, including some regional efforts, in which it is the sole owner, through the tracking of telegeography. Other large Te Companiesnological Companies, which are part owners or capacity buyers in lower cables, include Amazon and Microsoft (none of them are entire owners of any route itself).



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