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by Maria Deutscher

Meta Platforms Inc. plans to spend more than $10 billion on a submarine internet cable that will circle the globe, TechCrunch reported today.

The project was first detailed last month by subsea networking expert Sunil Tagare. According to TechCrunch, multiple sources close to Meta have confirmed the initiative. The Facebook parent is no stranger to undersea internet infrastructure: It has already built several submarine internet cables in partnership with other companies. 

Unlike those earlier systems, the upcoming cable is expected to be wholly owned by Meta. It will span more than 24,850 miles from the East Coast to the West Coast with pit stops in South Africa, India and Australia. The report didn’t specify the cable’s planned bandwidth.

Meta is expected to finance the project in phases. The cable’s first segment will reportedly cost $2 billion to deploy, while the remaining modules could reportedly add more than $8 billion to the price tag. The system is expected to take years to complete, partly because the specialized cable ships used in such projects are fully booked for the foreseeable future.

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