Tech company Meta has officially announced its new plan to build a massive underwater internet cable named Petal. This huge project will be the worlds very first subsea internet cable capable of delivering data at an astonishing speed of 1 petabit per second. To put this speed into simple words for everyday users, 1 petabit equals 1,000 terabits or 125,000 gigabytes of data moving every single second.
This superfast cable will run through a long route of 7,000 kilometers deep under the ocean, connecting the United States directly to the Atlantic coast of France. Meta explained that this single cable will carry enough bandwidth for nearly 75 percent of the entire worlds population to stream music at the same time. It offers double the capacity compared to today's most advanced ocean cables.
The main reason behind building Petal is the massive growth of Artificial Intelligence and cloud computing demands. Since nearly 99 percent of all international internet traffic travels through underwater cables, Meta wants to make sure global networks stay fast and secure. Meta is fully funding this project alongside top international partners. NEC Corporation will build the system, Sumitomo Electric will supply special optical fiber, and Orange will handle the cable landing in France. Petal uses an innovative two core fiber technology across 24 fiber pairs to safely double data speed. This landmark subsea system is expected to become fully operational by the year 2029, setting a new standard for global internet connectivity.
