Submarine cables, one of the most crucial components of internet infrastructure, carry the vast majority of data traffic between continents. The increasing prevalence of internet usage, cloud services, and artificial intelligence applications makes enhancing the capacity of this infrastructure even more vital. Meta is one of the companies making new investments in this direction. The company is building a new submarine internet cable that will stretch between the US and France, capable of carrying 1 million gigabits of data per second. This intercontinental cable, first announced in September, is named Petal. When it enters service in 2029, Petal will be the first submarine cable system to offer petabit capacity across oceanic distances.
Meta's New Internet Cable Will Be Able to Carry 125 TB of Data Per Second
Petal, which will be approximately 7,000 kilometers long, will be able to reach a data transfer capacity of 1 million gigabits (1 petabit) per second. This means approximately 125 terabytes of data can be transferred per second. In other words, the cable will have the capacity to transfer approximately 25,000 HD movies, each 5 GB in size, in one second. According to Meta's statement, Petal will offer roughly twice the capacity of existing submarine cables of similar length.
The feature that makes Petal stand out is not just its high data transfer capacity. The system will utilize multi-core fiber technology for the first time in commercially used submarine cables. While traditional fiber optic cables typically contain a single core per fiber, Petal will have two separate cores within each fiber. These cores will be able to carry optical signals in opposite directions. This means that data transfer, which would normally require two separate single-core fibers, can be achieved over a single dual-core fiber.
Each fiber will have a diameter of approximately 125 micrometers, a measurement close to the thickness of a human hair. Petal will contain a total of 24 pairs of dual-core fibers, thus having 96 separate fiber cores. This structure will allow the system to provide the capacity of 48 pairs of traditional fibers. Japanese technology company NEC will be responsible for the cable's design and construction, while Sumitomo Electric will undertake the production of the fibers.
Special Repeater Technology Developed for Multi-Core Fiber Cables
Submarine cables are among the fundamental elements of the global internet infrastructure. According to data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), approximately 99% of global internet traffic is carried over these cables. These systems, connecting continents, consist of fiber optic lines laid thousands of kilometers along the ocean floor. Data is transmitted through these lines using light pulses instead of electrical signals. However, since light signals weaken over long distances, the cables need to be strengthened at regular intervals.
For this purpose, amplifiers called repeaters are used along the cable route. According to Meta's statement, approximately 100 repeaters may be needed to boost signals in a roughly 7,000-kilometer submarine cable. Petal will use a special system that enables dual-core fibers to work in conjunction with these repeaters.
In this technology, called "fan-in/fan-out," when optical signals from a dual-core fiber reach a repeater, the signals in the two cores will be directed to separate single-core fibers. This allows both signals to be amplified independently. Once the process is complete, the signals will be transferred back to the dual-core fiber and continue their journey. According to Meta, combining dual-core fibers with this signal processing method will enable the data transfer capacity to be doubled without a proportional increase in power consumption.
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