Meta’s planned Petal subsea cable will connect the United States and France across approximately 4,300 miles of ocean, with service scheduled to begin in 2029. Funded and operated by Meta, the system is expected to become the first transoceanic cable to deliver one petabit per second—equivalent to one million gigabits per second. That represents twice the capacity of its predecessor, Anjana.
Rather than increasing capacity by packing more conventional fibers into a larger cable, Petal incorporates two light-guiding cores within each standard-sized glass strand. Its 24 pairs of dual-core fibers provide 96 individual cores, matching the capacity of 48 conventional fiber pairs. Ultra-pure synthetic silica limits signal loss, while precise optical engineering and signals traveling in opposite directions minimize interference between cores. Approximately 100 repeaters will amplify signals along the route. Inside each repeater, a specialized interface separates the two cores’ signals into single-core fibers for amplification before routing them back into dual-core fibers. Together, these features double capacity without a proportional increase in power demand, keeping the system within existing 18-kilovolt power equipment limits.
NEC is responsible for the system’s engineering, manufacturing, and installation, including its cable, repeaters, and power systems. Sumitomo Electric supplies the multi-core fiber, while Orange manages the French landing on the Atlantic coast and integration with Europe’s terrestrial network. Petal extends Meta’s investment in undersea infrastructure, following Marea in 2018, Amitie in 2023, and Anjana in 2025. Compared with Marea’s 192-terabit-per-second capacity, Petal will offer more than five times as much.
