Meta unveils subsea cable boosting transatlantic data flows
Meta will deploy a 7,000-kilometre transatlantic fiber-optic cable linking the United States and France by 2029, delivering record transmission speeds of up to one petabit per second, the tech giant announced.
The transoceanic system, named Petal, is engineered to transport roughly 125 terabits of data every second. According to Meta, that bandwidth would allow three-quarters of the global population to stream music simultaneously.
Multicore optical architecture
Petal will become the first commercial subsea infrastructure to employ multicore optical fiber technology. Conventional undersea lines rely on single-core strands, whereas each Petal fiber houses two independent cores carrying optical signals in opposing directions.
Measuring just 125 micrometers in diameter—roughly the thickness of a human hair—the installation will integrate 24 pairs of dual-core fibers. This 96-core design provides the transmission capacity of 48 traditional fiber pairs without a proportional surge in energy demand.
Japanese technology firm Nippon Electric Company (NEC) will handle overall design and construction, while Sumitomo Electric will manufacture the specialized glass fibers.
“Achieving a one-petabit-per-second capacity across an ocean represents a major technical milestone in the history of global telecommunications,” said Eduardo Mateo, strategy director at NEC's Submarine Network Division.
Subsea backbone resilience
Undersea cables form the backbone of the modern digital economy, carrying approximately 99% of all intercontinental internet traffic, according to the United Nations specialized agency, the International Telecommunication Union.
Maintaining signal strength across vast oceanic depths requires approximately 100 laser-powered optical repeaters along the 7,000-kilometre route. When dual-core signals enter each repeater, an optical interface routes each core into a dedicated strand for amplification before merging them back into the main line.
The venture expands Meta's proprietary subsea network, complementing earlier transatlantic investments including Marea in 2018, Amitie in 2023, and Anjana in 2025. Once commissioned, Petal will deliver more than five times the data capacity of the Marea system.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
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