Google and Meta Invest Billions in Submarine Cables to Dominate India's Data Economy

Global technology giants Google and Meta are making substantial investments in undersea cable systems to strengthen their infrastructure in India, posing a competitive challenge to domestic players like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Communications. This development aligns with India's rapidly growing data center market, driven by increasing demand for data services and advancements in artificial intelligence (AI).

Google is gearing up to deploy the Blue-Raman submarine cable system in Mumbai by the first quarter of 2025. The project, which involves an estimated investment of $400 million (approximately Rs 3,400 crore), is being undertaken in collaboration with Italy-based telecommunications company Sparkle. The cable system will deliver a capacity of 218 terabits per second (Tbps).

Meta, formerly Facebook, is advancing a $2 billion submarine cable project designed to revolutionize India's consumer and enterprise AI markets. Expected to be completed in three years, this initiative will offer an unprecedented capacity of 500 Tbps. While the initial investment stands at $2 billion, the total project cost could scale up to $10 billion.

Meta is reportedly evaluating Gujarat or Chennai as potential locations for this project.

Indian telecom leaders Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are not far behind in ramping up their submarine cable capabilities. Both companies have significantly enhanced the capacity of their ongoing projects, including the 2Africa Pearls, India-Asia-Express (IAX), and India-Europe-Express (IEX) systems. By early 2025, these expansions are expected to address surging data demands.

Reliance Jio is also advancing its data center operations with a 1-gigawatt AI data center under construction in Gujarat and an existing facility in Chennai.

The Indian optical fiber market is currently led by Airtel and Tata Communications, which have established extensive networks across the country. While Reliance Jio is a relatively new entrant, it has been scaling its operations rapidly to cater to the growing appetite for data-intensive services.