Meta has revealed plans to build the “longest 24 fiber pair cable project in the world” – a subsea internet cable that will span 50,000 kilometers.
Dubbed Project Waterworth, it will run at depths of up to 7,000 metres. It will connect Brazil, India, the US, South Africa and other regions.
Meta’s partners will use “enhanced burial techniques in high-risk fault areas, such as shallow waters near the coast, to avoid damage from ship anchors and other hazards,” it said in a February 14 post on the project.
Damage to subsea cables caused by ship's anchors and underwater geological movements are common. In March 2024, for example, damage to multiple subsea internet cables off the west African coast (later attributed to a suspected underwater rock slide) disrupted internet services across the continent, with the ACE, MainOne, South Atlantic 3, and West Africa Cable System all affected
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It did not share further information on cost, delivery dates, or partners.
The longest existing subsea cable is also a Meta project – or one in which Meta is a major partner. The 45,000 kilometre 2Africa project involves China Mobile International Limited, Bayobab, part of South Africa’s MTN Group, and Orange, among others. (Partners continue to expand it, with Vodafone landing 2Africa at its Tympaki station in Crete this week.)
2Africa is being laid by Alcatel Submarine Networks, which Nokia agreed to sell to the French government for €350 million in June 2024.
Among 2024's major new subsea cable investment announcements were one from Google, which said that it will invest $1 billion in two cables, Proa and Taihei, to create new routes between the US and Japan. These will be built by Japan's NEC Corp.
