Expert Comment: What does Meta’s undersea cable plan mean for geopolitics?

Oxford News | March 10, 2025

• Meta has announced Waterworth, the company’s plan to build the world’s longest submarine cable system, stretching 50,000km (31,000 mile). The longest cable in the world will thus be owned by a single Silicon Valley firm.

• Over the past decade, there has been a shift in which subsea cables are increasingly being built by large individual technology companies themselves as opposed to the consortiums which used to build them.

• Waterworth skips Europe and China to connect the United States directly with major markets in the Southern Hemisphere. Having a cable which avoids hotspots like the Red Sea and the South China Sea can therefore be beneficial for global networks’ resilience.

• The cable will give Meta and potentially other U.S. firms enhanced access to markets in the South. It will also provide geoeconomic and informational advantages to the U.S. government.