Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
Meta is reportedly planning to build a world-spanning fiber-optic subsea cable for its own exclusive use. According to TechCrunch, the $10 billion project will create a new 40,000+ kilometer (about 24,850 miles) cable network around the world that avoids “areas of geopolitical tension” where subsea cables have been sabotaged, such as the Red Sea, the South China Sea, Egypt, Marseilles, the Straits of Malacca, and Singapore.
While Meta is already a part-owner of 16 existing networks, this new cable project would be entirely owned by the company — allowing it full control to prioritize traffic to its own products and services. That would bring Meta in line with Google’s efforts, which privately owns a handful of cable routes and has…
