A planned US–France subsea cable targets one petabit per second in 2029

Meta plans approximately 7,000 kilometers of subsea cable between the United States and France, with Petal designed for an aggregate one petabit per second.

Announced September 21 and revisited October 17, the project targets service in 2029; it is not already operating or delivering that speed to individual homes.

Whose speed is one million gigabits?

One petabit equals 1,000 terabits or one million gigabits. This describes the cable system’s combined design capacity, not one customer’s download speed. Bits and bytes are also different units. A household plan, router or access-network bottleneck does not disappear because this cable has been announced.

More pathways inside optical fiber

Meta describes two cores within a fiber as a way to increase capacity over ocean distances. Its comparison with twice today’s leading transoceanic capacity is a company design claim. NEC and Sumitomo Electric participate, with Orange supporting the French landing. Partner announcements supplement primary evidence; they are not independent performance tests.

A larger cable does not speed every connection

More intercontinental capacity can support rising connectivity demand. It does not guarantee shorter response times for every website or cheaper service worldwide. Independent telecom research firm TeleGeography lists Petal among Meta’s solely owned cables, placing the project in the context of the company’s infrastructure expansion.

The next milestone is actual operation

Live Science’s October 17 account was checked against the official plan, with ownership separately checked in TeleGeography’s inventory. That inventory does not verify speed. These sources do not establish measured commercial performance or a final construction cost. Landing, installation, operating tests and an actual service announcement are the milestones to watch.

Primary sources and independent checks

Company plan: about 7,000 km, one petabit, target service in 2029; design claim, not independent measurement or a new announcement today: Meta — Petal announcement, 21/09/2026

October 17 renewed coverage and technical explanation; company-plan exposition is not an independent performance test. Direct HTTP 200 original also checked: Live Science — Owen Hughes, 17/10/2026

Independent research inventory of disclosed investments: checks project and Meta sole ownership, not capacity or operating speed: TeleGeography — Alan Mauldin, September 2026 inventory

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