Meta is preparing for a bigger role in the physical infrastructure of the internet. According to sources close to the company, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp plans to build a major fiber-optic subsea cable that would extend around the world and serve Meta alone.
The project is still early. Plans exist, but physical assets have not yet been laid out. If Meta follows through, the cable would mark a new stage in how Big Tech companies control the systems that carry their own traffic.
A dedicated pipe for Meta’s global traffic
Meta is already one of the largest drivers of internet use. Its properties account for 10% of all fixed traffic and 22% of all mobile traffic globally, according to the source article. With billions of users across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, the company has a direct business reason to make its network more reliable.
The planned cable would be more than 40,000 kilometers long. Sunil Tagare, a subsea cable expert and founder of Flag Telecom, first reported Meta’s plans in October. He told TechCrunch that the project is expected to begin with a budget of $2 billion, but could rise to more than $10 billion as it expands over years of work.
Meta declined to discuss the budget. Sources close to the company said more public detail is expected in early 2025, including the intended route, capacity, and some of the reasons for building it.
The key point is ownership. Meta is already involved in subsea networks, but this would be its first cable that it owns and uses by itself. That distinction matters because capacity would not have to be shared through a consortium structure or negotiated with other owners on the same route.
Why sole ownership changes the equation
Fiber-optic subsea cables have supported communications infrastructure for the last 40 years. What is changing is who pays for them and why. The sector has moved from projects led mainly by telecoms carriers and consortiums toward deeper participation by Big Tech companies.
Meta is not starting from zero. According to telecom analysts Telegeography, Meta is part owner of 16 existing networks, including the 2Africa cable that encircles the continent. Other participants in that project include Orange, Vodafone, China Mobile, Bayobab/MTN, and more.
Google is further along in direct subsea involvement. Telegeography tracks Google as involved in some 33 different routes, including a few regional projects where it is the sole owner. Amazon and Microsoft are also part owners or capacity buyers in subsea cables, though neither is described in the source as the whole owner of any route.
For Meta, full ownership could help it prioritize its own services. The company makes more money outside of North America than in its home market, according to its earnings reports, so reliable long-haul data movement matters to the business. A dedicated subsea route would not solve every delivery problem, because Meta would still need carriers inside countries and for last-mile delivery to users’ devices, but it could improve control over the backbone portion of the journey.
“They make their money from their products being presented to end users, and they will do everything they can to ensure customer experience, whether that’s delivery of video or other assets,” said Ranulf Scarbrough, a submarine cable industry analyst.
The planned route avoids pressure points
The cable route described by sources would form a “W” shape around the globe. It would run from the East Coast of the U.S. to India through South Africa, then from India to the West Coast of the U.S. through Australia.
That geography is not just about distance. A source close to the company told TechCrunch that the route is intended to help Meta “avoid areas of geopolitical tension.” Tagare has said the planned route would avoid the Red Sea, the South China Sea, Egypt, Marseilles, the Strait of Malacca, and Singapore, describing them as “all of whom are now major single points of failure.”
The concern is grounded in recent disruption. The source article notes that subsea cables have been damaged in recent years as collateral or direct damage from warfare. It cites Houthi fighters, backed by Iran, damaging cables in the Red Sea while going after boats; suspicion that Russia cut a submarine cable in the Baltic Sea; and another cable going down in European waters, with a Chinese ship currently getting the blame.
Regulatory scrutiny may also become part of the backdrop. The FCC announced this month that it plans to review submarine cable licensing for the first time in decades, partly because of national security and cable ownership.
AI and India may shape the long-term case
Meta’s artificial intelligence plans are another reason to watch the project. The source article says AI is a big part of Meta’s infrastructure roadmap, and greater AI use could increase demand across its networks. Still, sources close to the project said it is too early to say whether AI is part of the equation for this specific cable.
Tagare has offered a theory tied to India. He believes Meta could have an opportunity to build data center capacity in the country for training and working with AI models, with the subsea cable playing a role. He also points to India’s lower compute bandwidth costs compared with the U.S. and to discussion around India building its own AI infrastructure after a recent visit by Jensen Huang.
India is already central to Meta’s consumer business. The source article identifies it as the country with the most users by far on Facebook, with more than 375 million users, Instagram, with 363 million, and WhatsApp, with 536 million. It also says users there have shown enthusiasm for newer features like Meta’s AI tools.
Even without a confirmed AI rationale, India as a landing point makes sense based on the facts provided. It is a major Meta market, it has growth potential in data centers, and it sits on the planned global route.
Building it will not be quick
The project faces a practical constraint: subsea cable construction capacity is limited. Only a small number of companies, including SubCom, can build this kind of infrastructure, and those companies already have large customers such as Google reserving services.
“There’s a real tight supply on cable ships,” said Scarbrough. “They’re expensive at the minute and booked out several years ahead. Finding the available resources to do it soon is a challenge.”
One likely path, according to Scarbrough, could be building the cable in segments. That would fit the scale of a project expected to stretch over years and potentially exceed $10 billion.
For Meta, the larger signal is clear. The company wants more control over the infrastructure that carries its products, advertising, video, AI tools, and other data around the world. If completed, this cable would move Meta from being a major participant in subsea networks to the sole owner of a global route built around its own needs.