Multinational technology conglomerate Meta has formally announced what it calls its most ambitious subsea cable endeavour yet: Project Waterworth, which will reach five major continents and span over 50,000 kilometres, making it the world’s longest subsea cable project. It will, says Meta, use the highest-capacity technology available.
Project Waterworth will bring connectivity to the US, India, Brazil, South Africa and other key regions.
Meta says it will be a multi-billion dollar, multi-year investment to strengthen the scale and reliability of the world’s digital highways by opening three new oceanic corridors with the abundant, high-speed connectivity needed to drive AI innovation around the world.
As the Data Centre Dynamics website points out, however, specific route details, costs and timelines have not yet been shared.
What Meta does say is that the project demonstrates how it is continuing to advance engineering design to maintain cable resilience, enabling it to build the longest 24 fibre pair cable project in the world and enhance overall speed of deployment.
Meta says it is also deploying first-of-its-kind routing, maximising the cable laid in deep water — at depths up to 7,000 metres — and using enhanced burial techniques in high-risk fault areas, such as shallow waters near the coast, to avoid damage from ship anchors and other hazards.
The announcement was heavily covered by the Indian press reporting on the recent US-India Joint Leaders’ Statement – of which Meta’s news was apparently a part – after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US.
This cable investment, Business Today suggested, underscores Meta’s focus on India’s growing digital landscape, while the Joint Leaders’ Statement was said to highlight India’s plans to invest in undersea cable maintenance and financing in the Indian Ocean, using trusted vendors.
Source: extensia.tech
