Meta is reportedly getting back into the subsea cable space, “planning one hell of a cable” that will span much of the globe.

Undersea cables are a critical component to internet access, linking continents and providing fast data and communications. Unfortunately, geopolitical tensions are one of the biggest threats to undersea cables, and Meta appears to be preparing an insurance policy against existing cables in the Red Sea and South China Sea.

According to Sunil Tagare, Founder and CEO of OpenCables, Meta’s new plans mark a return to the space after a nearly three year absense.

Dubbed “W” — for it’s shape, the 40,000 Km cable costing $2 Billion, will be dedicated principally to India. It will start on the East Coast of the US and go straight to India with a stop in South Africa (for powering and restoration purposes). And it will also go from India straight to the Western Coast of the US with a powering and restoration stop in Darwin, Australia — avoiding the Red Sea, the South China Sea and more importantly Egypt, Marseilles, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore — all of whom are now major single points of failure.

Interestingly, because of its massive length, latency will be an issues with the W cable. Nonetheless, Tagare says Meta believes it is an acceptable tradeoff.

While this is brilliant, what W has to compromise on is latency. But I guess it is more important to have long-term security and peace of mind than worry about despotic countries and their never-ending issues and having to make ransom payments on a regular basis as in Egypt and Yemen.

The cost of the cable will be monumental, not exactly a surprise, given its scope.

So how much money are we talking about? In round figures, I believe this is going to be about a $10 Billion++ investment over the next 5-10 years. Let me break it down. $2 Billion for the bare bones cable, $2 Billion for the equipment to light up 1 Pbps capacity — two sides (East and West) with 500 Tbps capacity each (24 fiber pairs at around 20-25 Tbps each) and this is my assumption — at least $6 Billion++ in leasing or building AI Data Center capacity in India.

Meta’s plans illustrate just how far companies are willing to go to maintain connectivity, and just how much is required to do so in response to the actions of governments that some would argue should be protecting vital technology, not threatening it.