Meta has introduced plans to construct a 50,000km (31,000 mile) sub-sea cable internationally.
The tech big mentioned Undertaking Waterworth – connecting the US, India, South Africa, Brazil and different areas – would be the world’s longest underwater cable undertaking when accomplished.
Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp, has sought to increase its presence in know-how past social media, together with in synthetic intelligence (AI) and the infrastructure that helps it.
It mentioned its new cable undertaking would supply “industry-leading connectivity” to 5 main continents and assist help its AI tasks.
“This undertaking will allow larger financial co-operation, facilitate digital inclusion, and open alternatives for technological growth in these areas,” Meta said in a blog post.
The cable can be the longest thus far that makes use of a 24 fibre-pair system, giving it a better capability, based on the agency.
Sub-sea cables have turn out to be more and more vital as they supply the means to energy quite a lot of digital providers and switch information worldwide at velocity.
One regularly-cited statistic suggests greater than 95% of the world’s web site visitors is transferred by way of undersea cables.
Telecommunications market analysis agency TeleGeography says there are presently greater than 600 publicly-known sub-sea cable techniques worldwide.
This contains the 2Africa cable, backed by Meta and cell community operators similar to Orange, Vodafone and China Cell, which hyperlinks three continents and spans 45,000km.
And the tech corporations that function main suppliers of net providers have invested big sums in cable infrastructure.
Google mentioned in 2024 it will construct the primary sub-sea cable connecting Africa and Australia, and announced a $1bn funding to spice up connectivity to Japan with two new sub-sea cables within the Pacific Ocean.
Telecoms and know-how {industry} analyst Paolo Pescatore instructed the BBC that Meta “has proven a robust want to personal extra of the connectivity slice”.
“This can be a additional demonstration because it seeks to leapfrog rivals in offering customers with an distinctive expertise by tightly integrating {hardware}, software program, platform and its rising aspirations in connectivity,” he mentioned.
“In the end these strikes, whereas welcome from an funding perspective, will elevate additional eyebrows amongst regulators and different key stakeholders given growing dominance of huge tech.”
The rising significance of sub-sea cables has elevated considerations over their vulnerability to assaults or accidents.
Following a spate of severed cables, consultants have mentioned undersea communications infrastructure is a rising area for geopolitical tensions and battle.
Nato launched a mission in January to extend surveillance of ships within the Baltic Sea after damage to critical undersea cables last year.
A UK parliamentary committee recently issued a name for proof concerning the UK’s resilience within the face of potential disruption.
This mentioned pointed to rising concern over “Russian and Chinese language capabilities to carry undersea infrastructure in danger – notably in periods of heightened rigidity or battle”.
Meta mentioned in its weblog publish saying Undertaking Waterworth it will lay its cable system as much as 7,000 meters deep and “use enhanced burial methods in high-risk fault areas, similar to shallow waters close to the coast, to keep away from harm from ship anchors and different hazards”.
