Meta plans to launch Petal, a 7,000-kilometre undersea internet cable between the US and France, in 2029. It is designed to carry up to one million gigabits per second, enough data for about 25,000 high-quality films. According to Meta, it will be the first cable to offer this capacity across an ocean, carrying twice as much data as comparable existing cables.
The improvement comes from changing the glass fibres that carry information as light. A normal fibre usually has one central path, called a core. Petal’s fibres have two, with light travelling in opposite directions. This allows the system to double its capacity without needing a matching increase in power. Devices placed along the cable will strengthen the light signals during their journey across the ocean.
NEC will design and build the system, while Sumitomo Electric will supply its glass fibres. Orange will manage the cable’s arrival on France’s Atlantic coast and connect it to Europe’s land network. The project continues Meta’s investment in undersea cables, which carry nearly 99 per cent of international data traffic.
