Meta Launches New Subsea Cable Project to Increase Global Connectivity

Meta launches new subsea cable project to increase global connectivity and improve data speed across key international regions.

Meta has announced its newest large-scale subsea cabling project “Candle”, an ambitious infrastructure project that will up connectivity between Asia-Pacific and elsewhere in the world.

Planned for service in 2028, Candle will directly connect Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore with record-breaking capacity and system resilience.

Millions of People With High-Bandwidth Connections

As detailed by Meta:

“Candle will be the largest capacity cable in APAC, bringing increased connectivity to Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, in 2028. Spanning 8,000 kilometers, Candle will connect over 580 million people with 570 terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity.”

This large subsea cable system is based on 24 fiber-pairs technology, among the first systems of such scale and capacity to be implemented across the region.

Collaboration with Regional Telecom Giants

Candle is a joint program initiated by leading telecom and technology companies, SoftBank Corp., IPS Inc., TM, XLSmart, and NEC Corporation.

Together, they aim to deliver what Equinix calls a strong digital backbone to serve everything from 5G through artificial intelligence in APAC.

NEC is responsible for the system integration, which includes manufacturing, route planning, installation, testing, and deployment of repeaters.

Complements Meta’s Ongoing Global Network Expansion

Candle is part of Meta’s global network of subsea investments that are augmenting the world’s digital infrastructure, such as:

• Project Waterworth: A 50,000km cable linking five continents and the world’s longest subsea system.
• Bifrost and Echo Cables: Increasing transpacific capacity by 70%, linking Southeast Asia with North America.
• Apricot System: Connectivity across Taiwan, Japan & Guam, and soon to the Philippines, Indonesia & Singapore.

All these projects contribute to the building of intra-Asia connectivity and transpacific data flows, serving as resilient digital corridors that are vital for cloud services, AI, and online experiences.

Strategic Importance of Candle

Meta sees these investments in infrastructure as pivotal to achieving its ambition of bringing personal-AI-driven superintelligence to billions around the world. High-speed, reliable connection is a linchpin in achieving this future.

Though Meta’s increasing participation in undersea infrastructure further extends their reach, it is done in collaboration with local governments and telecom partners. The partnership is said to ensure secure, high-capacity networks that serve regional economies and users.

Candle highlights Meta’s growing influence in the digital world, its commitment to providing innovative solutions for connectivity that cater to the needs of emerging technologies such as 5G, AI, and IOT.

Bottom Line

If initiated as planned, the project will be key in connecting hundreds of millions of people to faster and more robust internet access, preparing the ground for Meta’s grand vision of AI superintelligence and supporting further development of the Asia-Pacific digital economy.