Meta is introducing Candle, a new submarine cable that will improve connectivity across East and Southeast Asia by 2028. Candle, the Asia-Pacific region’s biggest capacity cable, will extend 8,000 kilometres, connecting over 580 million people and capable of 570 terabits per second. This plan follows the construction of the Bifrost cable system and will use advanced 24-fibre-pair cable technology in collaboration with regional telecommunications firms to supply comparable capacity to the present top cable, Anjana.
Earlier this year, Meta launched Project Waterworth, a major undersea cable venture aimed at connecting five continents, including Asia, by the end of the decade. In addition, Meta shared updates on four other submarine cable developments in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, which would improve global connectivity for billions of people while also supporting its goods and services. Notably, the Candle submarine cable will connect East and Southeast Asia, complementing the completion of the Bifrost cable system.
Candle is expected to become APAC’s greatest capacity subsea cable system by 2028, covering 8,000 kilometres and linking over 580 million people in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Candle, with a capacity of 570 terabits per second (Tbps), will use cutting-edge 24-fibre-pair cable technology in collaboration with regional telecommunications providers, with the goal of providing bandwidth similar to Anjana, the current greatest cable.
According to the announcement, the Bifrost subsea cable, which is part of Meta’s ambition to increase trans-Pacific capacity by 70% with its partner cables, has been successfully deployed. It connects Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the United States, with plans to expand to Mexico by 2026, and has a new routing system that provides over 260 Tbps of redundancy to a key digital channel. Meanwhile, the Echo cable connects Guam and California at 260 Tbps, with eventual access to Asia.
Also Read: Samsung Galaxy A07, Galaxy F07, and Galaxy M07 4G with MediaTek CPU launched in India
In addition, Meta introduced the Apricot undersea cable system, which is presently active between Japan, Taiwan, and Guam, with further extensions planned for the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore. This 12,000-kilometre system will add 290 Tbps of capacity to current networks such as Bifrost and Echo. Candle, Echo, Bifrost, and Apricot will improve intra-Asian connections and give transpacific linkages to the Americas. Furthermore, investments in initiatives like 2Africa will bring access to India, the Middle East, and Europe, while Project Waterworth intends to improve global connectivity.
This digital infrastructure initiative is intended to highlight Meta’s commitment to strengthening communication networks and guaranteeing speedy and efficient service delivery in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
