Meta Announces Petal Petabit Subsea Cable
Meta has announced Petal, a planned transatlantic subsea cable designed to deliver 1 petabit per second of capacity. The system will connect France and the United States across roughly 7,000 kilometres. Meta expects Petal to enter service in 2029.
The company says Petal will become the first transoceanic subsea cable to deliver petabit-class capacity. It will also double the capacity of today’s most advanced transoceanic cable systems. Meta also says the design can achieve this without a proportional increase in power or physical infrastructure.
The project comes as global demand for connectivity continues to grow. Subsea cables already carry about 99% of intercontinental internet traffic. As cloud services, AI workloads, and digital applications expand, higher-capacity systems will play an important role.
Petal Uses Two-Core Fibre Technology
Petal’s main technical change involves multi-core optical fibre. Instead of using conventional single-core fibre, the system will use two-core fibre within a 24-fibre-pair architecture. As a result, the design provides the equivalent capacity of 48 conventional fibre pairs.
Meta says this approach will allow Petal to reach 1 petabit per second, or 1,000 terabits per second. The company compares that capacity with its Anjana transatlantic system, which provides about 0.5 petabits per second. Therefore, Petal aims to double that system’s capacity across a similar transatlantic route.
The engineering approach also addresses power and physical constraints. Normally, doubling cable capacity could require more fibre, materials, and supporting infrastructure. However, Petal’s two-core design increases capacity without a proportional increase in those requirements.
The cable will also use a redesigned repeater system. Meta says a 7,000-kilometre cable typically requires around 100 repeaters to strengthen signals along the route. Petal will use a single-body repeater that can amplify 96 fibre cores.
The system will also use Fan-In/Fan-Out technology inside its repeaters. This configuration converts two-core fibre into single-core fibres for amplification, then returns the signals to two-core fibre. As a result, Petal can use established amplification technology while supporting its higher fibre capacity.
NEC, Sumitomo Electric and Orange Join Project
Meta is developing Petal with several technology and telecommunications partners. NEC will serve as the turnkey system supplier, while Sumitomo Electric Industries will provide the multi-core fibre. Meanwhile, Orange will support the planned landing on France’s Atlantic coast.
Sumitomo Electric developed the two-core fibre with ultra-low loss and low signal crosstalk. As a result, the fibre aims to maintain optical performance while carrying two independent light paths through one strand.
NEC will handle the manufacturing and installation of the final system. In addition, the company has developed the petabit-scale repeaters and related technologies required for the new architecture.
Orange, meanwhile, is working with Meta on the French landing and terrestrial connection into Europe’s wider network. As a result, the project will link the transatlantic cable to existing European connectivity infrastructure.
Meta has invested in more than 20 subsea cable projects globally. Its portfolio includes Marea, Amitié, Anjana, and Project Waterworth. With Petal, the company is extending that infrastructure strategy toward higher-capacity transoceanic links.
Petal Targets Growing Global Data Demand
Meta says Petal’s 1 petabit-per-second capacity could support approximately 75% of the world’s population streaming music simultaneously. That comparison uses a 160-kilobit-per-second audio stream and illustrates the scale of the planned system.
The project also reflects the changing demands placed on global networks. AI systems, cloud computing, video services, and other data-intensive applications continue to increase international traffic. Therefore, subsea infrastructure must expand capacity while maintaining reliability and managing power and material requirements.
Petal will not increase consumer internet speeds immediately because the cable remains under development. Instead, its impact will depend on its eventual deployment and integration with networks using the route. Meta currently expects the system to enter service in 2029.
For the subsea cable industry, however, Petal represents a move toward multi-core fiber at transoceanic scale. Meta says the project marks its largest generational increase in capacity for a repeatered subsea system. If delivered as planned, Petal will establish a new 1-petabit-per-second link between North America and Europe.
