Meta Plans to Construct the World’s Longest Undersea Cable | Science, Climate & Tech News
Meta is set to construct the longest undersea cable in the world, intending to link the US, India, South Africa, Brazil, and additional locations.
The parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp plans to lay a 50,000km (31,000-mile) cable, exceeding the Earth’s circumference, to ensure that artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are globally accessible, as stated in a blog post.
Project Waterworth aims to establish “three new oceanic corridors with the high-speed connectivity essential for driving AI innovation worldwide,” according to a post by Meta on its engineering blog.
The Global Digital Inclusion Partnership refers to subsea cables as the “backbone of the internet,” a coalition working to connect the world’s population “meaningfully” to the internet by 2030.
The organization reports that approximately 95% of internet traffic is transmitted through these cables, although access to this extensive network remains inconsistent, adversely affecting the most marginalized segments of society.
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The group noted in a report last year, “As subsea cables enhance data traffic competition and bandwidth availability, the cost for each gigabyte of data decreases.”
“Tackling the affordability challenge can provide significant advantages for individuals with lower incomes who are more price-sensitive — predominantly women, people living in rural areas, or other marginalized groups (e.g., individuals with disabilities).”
Meta has already initiated the development of over 20 subsea cables, while its competitor, tech mogul Elon Musk, is deploying fleets of low-orbit satellites to expand internet connectivity.
Starlink satellites pass above a house in California. File pic: AP/Alan Dyer
However, his Starlink satellites serve a different mission: they aim to connect remote and difficult-to-reach areas to the internet, where cables may struggle to extend.
Stargazers have occasionally spotted his trail of satellites traversing the night sky shortly after their launch, with some of the mysterious light formations having been observed over the UK in recent years.
Meta’s new subsea cable initiative is anticipated to cost billions of dollars and require several years for completion. The company has characterized it as its “most ambitious subsea cable endeavor to date”.
