According to rumors, Meta is planning to build a submarine fiber optic cable of over 40,000 kilometers, which would circumnavigate the globe. The project, estimated at around $10 billion, would aim to create a network infrastructure entirely owned by the company, guaranteeing Meta full control and priority of data traffic for its products and services. The initiative, anticipated last October by submarine cable expert Sunil Tagare, envisages a “W” route that would connect the east coast of the United States to the west coast, passing through India, South Africa and Australia. The choice of this route would be strategic, avoiding geopolitically unstable and sabotage-prone areas, such as the Red Sea, the South China Sea, Egypt, Marseille, the Strait of Malacca and Singapore.
Meta currently co-owns 16 submarine cable networks, but this new project would mark a change of pace, aligning the company’s strategy with that of Google, which privately owns some routes and has invested in 33 others. The construction of a infrastructure of this magnitude would allow Meta to independently manage the data flow, optimizing the performance of its services, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta is expected to release more details on the project, including capabilities, final route and rationale behind private construction, in early 2025.