According to the latest data, Meta✴ plans to build a new, “around the world” submarine cable that will connect the two coasts of the United States. Datacenter Dynamics reports that the new digital highway will run along the bottom of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans.
The Subseacables blog reported that a cable with a length of about 40 thousand km or more will require investments in the amount of $2 billion. Experts suggest laying along two probable routes – from the east coast of the United States to India with a “stop” in South Africa, and then from India to the west coast of the country with another landing station in Darwin (Australia). There is another version, according to which the cable will receive a branch from Mumbai to Singapore and, possibly, will stretch to Australia and Japan. In this case, the construction of a landing station in Lisbon is not excluded – from where the highway will go to the coast of West Africa.
Image source: Submarine Cable Map
The predicted cable capacity of 16 fiber-optic pairs is 320 Tbit/sec. The cable bypasses problematic routes including the Red Sea, South China Sea and coastal waters of Egypt. The cable is expected to be 100% owned by Meta✴. Meta✴ itself refused to comment on the news. Today the company is already involved in several Internet cabling projects, including Echo, Bifrost, Havhingsten, Amite and Anjana. She is also the key owner of the currently longest cable system, 2Africa.