NEC Wins Facebook Contract for Ultra-High-Capacity Transatlantic Cable
NEC Corporation has signed a major contract with Facebook (Meta) to build an ultra‑high‑performance transatlantic subsea fiber‑optic cable connecting the U.S. and Europe. The new system targets up to one petabit per second of capacity, placing it among the most advanced submarine networks in operation. The NEC Facebook transatlantic subsea cable will help support rapidly growing global data traffic.
Next-Generation 24-Fiber Pair Subsea Technology
Until recently, long‑distance subsea systems typically used up to 16 fiber pairs. NEC’s newly developed 24‑fiber pair cable and repeaters now enable a maximum transmission capacity of half a petabit per second on a repeatered optical subsea route. This design delivers about a 50% increase in fiber count compared to legacy systems and, as a result, helps lower the cost per transported bit for carriers and content providers.
You can learn more about NEC’s submarine systems at https://www.nec.com/ and Meta’s infrastructure initiatives at https://about.facebook.com/meta/.
Hyperscalers Lead New Subsea Builds
Industry data shows that Facebook (Meta) holds ownership stakes in more than a dozen submarine cable systems worldwide. Google also participates in at least 16 current or planned undersea routes. These hyperscale internet companies increasingly drive new subsea investments, gradually taking the lead from traditional telecom carriers in financing and specifying global cable projects.
OCC’s Role and surging Atlantic Data Demand
OCC, an NEC subsidiary, reports that its 24‑fiber pair cable platform can use a wide range of existing optical fibers. This flexibility lets each new system tune performance and cost for specific routes and network requirements. Meanwhile, international data traffic across the Atlantic is expected to grow roughly twenty‑fold between 2021 and 2035. This corridor ranks among the highest‑growth regions for data demand, which pushes operators to deploy higher‑fiber‑count, higher‑capacity designs such as the NEC Facebook transatlantic subsea cable to keep cost per bit down.
