Meta has announced an ambitious project to construct a 50,000km undersea cable system that will connect key regions, including the United States, India, South Africa, and Brazil. The initiative, named Project Waterworth, is set to become the longest underwater cable network ever built, aimed at enhancing global connectivity and supporting the company’s expanding artificial intelligence projects.

Designed with a 24 fibre-pair system, the cable will offer high-capacity data transfer across five major continents. Meta has emphasized that the project will facilitate economic cooperation, promote digital inclusion, and create new opportunities for technological growth in the connected regions.

Undersea cables play a vital role in powering the global internet, with more than 95% of the world's internet traffic relying on them for data transfer. Industry research indicates that over 600 publicly known subsea cable systems currently exist, and major technology firms have increasingly taken the lead in developing new infrastructure. Meta has already been involved in the 2Africa cable, a 45,000km network linking three continents, alongside telecommunications companies such as Orange, Vodafone, and China Mobile.

Experts believe this latest move reflects a broader shift in the industry, where technology firms are taking a more dominant role in subsea infrastructure development. The substantial investments by companies like Meta highlight efforts to strengthen their control over global digital connectivity and integrate hardware, software, and platform services more seamlessly.

With the growing importance of subsea cables, concerns over their security and resilience have also increased. Recent incidents involving damaged cables and rising geopolitical tensions have led to heightened surveillance and policy discussions. NATO has launched missions to monitor critical undersea infrastructure, while the UK has initiated studies on its vulnerability to potential disruptions.

Meta has stated that Project Waterworth will incorporate advanced security measures by deploying cables at depths of up to 7,000 meters and using enhanced burial techniques in high-risk areas to prevent damage. The project’s route appears to avoid traditional geopolitical hotspots such as the Suez Canal and the South China Sea, instead prioritizing connections between the United States and emerging markets in the Southern Hemisphere.

This large-scale investment in digital infrastructure marks another step in Meta’s broader strategy to extend its influence beyond social media and into global connectivity, further shaping the future of internet access and data transfer worldwide.