Social media giant Meta plans to lay its own dedicated undersea fiber optic internet cables that will span the world, according to a new report.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, plans to announce plans early next year to lay more than 25,000 miles of fiber-optic cable under the sea, a move that could cost more than $10 billion. A person close to the company said. told TechCrunch.
According to the media, the cable will be exclusively owned and used by Meta, which accounts for 22% of all mobile traffic and is the second largest driver of internet usage worldwide.
The cable route could run from the US East Coast through South Africa to India, and then from India to Australia to the US West Coast, the report said.
Experts say the company has a long list of checkpoints to clear before carrying out such grand plans, including finding a company to install the cable.
“The supply of cable ships is really tight,” submarine cable industry analyst Ranulph Scarborough told TechCrunch.
“Right now it's expensive and fully booked for years out. It's hard to find the resources available to do it right away,” he added.
Once completed, the line will be the first privately owned and operated global fiber optic cable project.
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and other Big Tech companies own parts of other global cable systems, but no company owns leased lines outright, according to TechCrunch.
Experts say there are several motivations for Meta to make such a large investment in infrastructure.
The company will be able to privately support a wide range of Internet traffic with its own assets, reducing its dependence on telecommunications companies that were otherwise already subject to technological challenges at the dawn of the Internet age. You can.
Experts also say Meta has a motive to inculcate geopolitical conflicts into itself, resulting in collateral and direct damage to undersea cables.
Just last week, a cable was severed in European waters, and the Swedish state asked China to help with an investigation into ships controlled by the communist state. According to the Associated Press.
The route planned by the company is intended to “avoid geopolitically sensitive areas,” a source close to the company told TechCrunch.
Back in May, U.S. national security officials warned Meta, Google and other companies that their undersea internet cables were at risk of being tampered with by Chinese-controlled vessels.
F.C.C. announced earlier this month The United Nations has announced the launch of the first comprehensive review of undersea cable licensing rules in decades, aimed at modernizing the rules and ensuring the safety of critical infrastructure.
Meta's project is still in the early stages of development and will take years to plan, according to the report.
