NEC Wins Facebook Contract for Ultra-High-Capacity Transatlantic Cable
NEC Corporationย has signed a major contract withย Facebook (Meta)ย to build an ultraโhighโperformanceย transatlantic subsea fiberโoptic cableย connecting the U.S. and Europe. The new system targetsย up to one petabit per secondย of capacity, placing it among the most advanced submarine networks in operation. Theย NEC Facebook transatlantic subsea cableย will help support rapidly growing global data traffic.
Next-Generation 24-Fiber Pair Subsea Technology
Until recently, longโdistance subsea systems typically usedย up to 16 fiber pairs. NECโs newly developedย 24โfiber pair cable and repeatersย now enable a maximum transmission capacity ofย half a petabit per secondย on a repeatered optical subsea route. This design delivers about aย 50% increase in fiber countย 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 NECโs submarine systems atย https://www.nec.com/ย and Metaโs infrastructure initiatives atย https://about.facebook.com/meta/.
Hyperscalers Lead New Subsea Builds
Industry data shows thatย Facebook (Meta)ย holds ownership stakes in more than a dozen submarine cable systems worldwide.ย Googleย 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.
OCCโs Role and surging Atlantic Data Demand
OCC, an NEC subsidiary, reports that its 24โfiber 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 theย Atlanticย is expected to grow roughly twentyโfold between 2021 and 2035. This corridor ranks among the highestโgrowth regions for data demand, which pushes operators to deploy higherโfiberโcount, higherโcapacity designs such as theย NEC Facebook transatlantic subsea cableย to keep cost per bit down.
