{"id":367400,"date":"2024-11-29T16:56:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T16:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/?post_type=news&p=367400"},"modified":"2024-11-29T16:56:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T16:56:01","slug":"meta-will-reportedly-build-a-10-billion-undersea-cable-that-spans-the-world","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/news\/meta-will-reportedly-build-a-10-billion-undersea-cable-that-spans-the-world","title":{"rendered":"Meta Will Reportedly Build a $10 Billion Undersea Cable that Spans the World"},"content":{"rendered":"
Meta is reportedly going ahead with an undersea data network that will span several continents, and cost $10 billion or more by the time it\u2019s completed.<\/strong><\/p>\n Meta will be the sole owner and user of the fiber optic network, meant to support platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, TechCrunch sources say<\/a>. The project was first reported on in October by undersea cable expert Sunil Tagare<\/a>, and is expected to connect the US east coast with South Africa, India, and Australia before looping back to the US west coast. Meta is already a partial owner of 16 undersea networks.<\/p>\n Plans for the global link are in their early stages, the new sources say, without any physical assets in place. Meta could announce the cable project in 2025, but even if it\u2019s confirmed, the buildout is expected to take years to finish. Relatively few third-party companies specialize in undersea cable networks, and cable ships are said to be both expensive and booked years in advance. Meta may need to focus on constructing one segment at a time. The initial budget for the project is claimed to be just $2 billion.<\/p>\n It might normally be difficult to justify such a massive investment, but Meta\u2019s services are estimated to account for 10% of all fixed and 22% of all mobile internet traffic. The company\u2019s profits are dependent on reliable bandwidth, especially as it pushes deeper into segments like generative AI<\/a> and mixed reality<\/a>.<\/p>\n Aside from an exclusive pipeline, Meta reportedly believes this could help avoid political violence. The cable network\u2019s W-shaped route is meant to \u201cavoid areas of geopolitical tension,\u201d one of the TechCrunch sources explains, dodging areas like the Middle East. Yemen\u2019s Houthi fighters have cut cables while attacking boats in the Red Sea<\/a>. In Europe, a Chinese vessel recently cut two cables under the Baltic Sea<\/a>. Investigators are looking into whether Russia ordered the Baltic incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Meta is reportedly going ahead with an undersea data network that will span several continents, and cost $10 billion or more by the time it\u2019s completed. Meta will be the sole owner and user of the fiber optic network, meant to support platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, TechCrunch sources say. The project was first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287340,"featured_media":367439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"news-category":[2224],"class_list":["post-367400","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-category-big-tech"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n