Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has announced an ambitious plan to build the world’s longest subsea cable. Named Project Waterworth, the 50,000-kilometre-long cable will connect five continents and reach depths of 7,000 metres beneath the ocean’s surface.
The social media giant says the project will link the United States, India, Brazil, and South Africa, creating a high-capacity digital highway. According to the International Telecommunications Union, over 99 per cent of international data exchanges rely on subsea cables, making them critical to global communications.
Meta’s new cable will use a 24 fibre-pair system, promising increased capacity and faster connections. The company states that the cable will promote economic cooperation, support digital inclusion, and create opportunities for technological growth in these regions. It is also expected to assist Meta’s artificial intelligence (AI) projects, which require vast amounts of data processing power.
Project Waterworth is a multi-billion dollar, multi-year investment designed to enhance the reliability and scale of global digital infrastructure. The company has not yet disclosed a timeline or budget for the project but has highlighted its importance for AI-driven innovation.
Security Concerns Over Subsea Cables
The world currently has nearly 600 subsea cable systems with 1,700 landings either active or under construction, according to TeleGeography. Meta has already developed 20 such cables, including the 2Africa Pearls extension, a 45,000-kilometre-long system linking Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Meanwhile, other tech giants are also expanding their cable networks. Google announced a $1 billion investment in two Pacific Ocean cables to Japan and a new link between Africa and Australia.
However, subsea cables have become a security concern, with NATO increasing patrols in the Baltic Sea following alleged sabotage attempts, often attributed to Russian vessels. NATO has described these attacks as the “most active threat” to Western infrastructure and is deploying AI tools to monitor suspicious ship activity.
As subsea cables become ever more vital for global communications, companies like Meta continue to expand and secure these critical networks in the face of rising geopolitical tensions.
