By MARTI STELLING and FREYA BARNES

Published: 01:30 GMT, 18 February 2025 | Updated: 01:48 GMT, 18 February 2025

Facebook owner Meta has announced plans to build a 50,000km sub-sea cable across the world despite growing concerns about foreign cyber attacks.

Project Waterworth will be the world’s longest underwater cable project, connecting the US, India, South Africa and Brazil.

Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, said the 31,000-mile cable project would provide ‘industry-leading connectivity’ to five major continents and help support its artificial intelligence (AI) projects.

More than 95 per cent of the world’s internet traffic is transferred through undersea cables and there are at least 600 publicly-known sub-sea cable systems worldwide.

However, a spate of severed cables led experts to warn of the threat of foreign attacks.

Nato launched a mission in January to increase surveillance of ships in the Baltic Sea after damage to cables last year.

A UK parliamentary committee issued a call for evidence about the UK’s resilience in the face of disruption and pointed to growing concern over ‘Russian and Chinese capabilities to hold undersea infrastructure at risk’.

Meta said in a blog post it would lay its cable system up to 7,000 meters deep and ‘use enhanced burial techniques in high-risk fault areas, such as shallow waters near the coast, to avoid damage from ship anchors and other hazards’.

Facebook owner Meta has announced plans to build a 50,000km sub-sea cable across the world despite growing concerns about foreign cyber attacks (stock image)

Project Waterworth will be the world's longest underwater cable project, connecting the US, India , South Africa and Brazil (stock image)

Project Waterworth will be the world’s longest underwater cable project, connecting the US, India , South Africa and Brazil (stock image)

The post added: ‘Project Waterworth will bring industry-leading connectivity to the US, India, Brazil, South Africa, and other key regions.

‘This project will enable greater economic cooperation, facilitate digital inclusion, and open opportunities for technological development in these regions.

‘For example, in India, where we’ve already seen significant growth and investment in digital infrastructure, Waterworth will help accelerate this progress and support the country’s ambitious plans for its digital economy.’

‘We’ve driven infrastructure innovation with various partners over the past decade, developing more than 20 subsea cables.

‘This includes multiple deployments of industry-leading subsea cables of 24 fiber pairs – compared to the typical 8 to 16 fibre pairs of other new systems.’

It comes after Donald Trump placed sanctions on a Russian company for allegedly providing ‘underwater capabilities’ to Moscow, with the aim of monitoring the underwater network.

Meanwhile, in July, large parts of Tonga were left in darkness after the undersea internet cable connecting the island network sustained damage causing disruption for local businesses.

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Meta unveils plan for world’s longest undersea cable project spanning 50,000km – longer than the Earth’s circumference

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