Technology companies are trying to enter the world of communications and Internet infrastructure by investing in the extension of submarine cables that connect parts of the world to the Internet, and Facebook has recently entered this field with its cooperation with Orange.
The French company "Orange", in partnership with the American giant Facebook, is financing the installation of a new submarine cable that extends across the Atlantic Ocean from the beach of the town of Bourges, near the city of Bordeaux in southwestern France.
The new cable is expected to provide the fastest communications network in France, and is expected to enter service in early 2022.
The French website "LCI" says in a report, that the total distance of the telecommunications cables that extend at the bottom of the world's oceans is about 1.2 million kilometers, equivalent to 3 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
These huge cables provide 99% of the world's communications, whether over the Internet or by phone.
Driven by lasers and optical fiber technology, data travels over these cables at the speed of light, before being redistributed to our electronic devices via cell towers on the ground.
The length of the new cable, financed by Orange and Facebook, is 6,800 km, and extends from the French Atlantic coast to the American coast.
"The process is to run the cable underwater until it reaches the other coast," says Karen Romanetti, head of submarine cable strategy at Orange.
Due to the weather, the works were delayed until next spring.
Internet giants are on the line
According to the report, the cost of the project is estimated at 250 million euros, and the cables were transported on board a purpose-built ship to reach the depths of the ocean, where the depth exceeds 6 thousand meters.
The cables are to be coated with copper, steel and bitumen alloys.
“In addition to the depth, there may be fishing areas, ships and moorings on the sea floor. The cable must be able to withstand all these factors,” explains Thomas Lauquan, production manager at Alcatel, one of the most important companies that specialize in installing submarine cables. .
"Given the strategic issues and national sovereignty regarding submarine cables, Orange must continue to develop its infrastructure to connect France with other continents," the French Press Agency quoted the director of international networks in Orange, Jean-Luc Voelmin.
"When you have submarine cables, you have access to the data through the intelligence services in one way or another," explains Camille Morrell, a doctoral student at Lyon University and a research associate at the Institute for Strategic Research at the Military School.
But the new factor in this project, according to the "LCA" report, is that the American Internet giant Facebook stormed this strategic sector that was the preserve of telecommunications companies, especially after the huge explosion in the flow of transient data between Europe and the United States.