MAREA is a 6,605-kilometre subsea fiber-optic cable linking Virginia Beach, Virginia, with Bilbao, Spain. Microsoft announced its completion on September 23, 2017, when the eight-fiber-pair system was described as capable of 160 Tbps. A later technology upgrade reported in 2018 raised the stated capacity to 200 Tbps. Those figures describe different stages of MAREA’s development, not a contradiction.
What is the MAREA cable?
MAREA is a transatlantic communications cable developed by Facebook (now Meta) and Microsoft. Telxius was named its operator and manager. The cable’s single segment runs between a landing station in Virginia Beach and one in Bilbao, providing a direct path between Northern Virginia’s data-center region and Europe.
The sponsors selected a southern Atlantic route intended to add resilience to transatlantic connectivity and to link Northern Virginia with Bilbao and onward network hubs in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. “Resilience” here is the project’s design objective; the available project material does not establish a measured guarantee against outages.
Route and physical scale
- Regulatory length: 6,605 km for the Virginia Beach–Bilbao segment, according to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2017 record.
- Rounded description: Microsoft described the completed line as about 4,000 miles.
- Seabed depth: Microsoft said the seabed reaches more than 17,000 feet in some locations.
The 6,605-km figure is the specific segment length in the FCC filing; the 4,000-mile figure is Microsoft’s rounded public description of the same transatlantic connection.
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MAREA’s timeline
2016: announcement and planned build
On May 26, 2016, Facebook and Microsoft announced MAREA. They expected construction to begin in August 2016 and completion in October 2017. The announcement specified eight fiber pairs, an initial design estimate of 160 Tbps, Telxius operation and management, and a route from Northern Virginia to Bilbao.
2017: installation and completion
The FCC’s 2017 filing describes one 6,605-km segment with eight optical fiber pairs rated at 20 Tbps per pair. Microsoft announced completion on September 23, 2017, reporting up to 160 Tbps at that point.
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Microsoft said the cable was laid by the CS Dependable. It attributed the eight-pair design to redesigned repeater stations and onshore electrical supplies. That explanation is the project participant’s account, not an independent engineering audit.
2018: reported capacity increase
A Congressional Research Service report published in 2022 says the owners announced in 2018 that newly integrated technologies increased MAREA’s capacity from 160 Tbps to 200 Tbps. The 200-Tbps number is therefore a later reported capacity, not the figure Microsoft used for the 2017 completion announcement.
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How much data can MAREA carry?
| Development point | Capacity description | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Original design and 2017 completion | 160 Tbps total | Eight pairs at 20 Tbps per pair in the 2017 FCC filing; Microsoft reported up to 160 Tbps at completion. |
| Later reported capability | Up to 200 Tbps | CRS reported a 2018 owner announcement attributing the increase to integrated new technology. |
These are system design or carrying-capacity figures. They are not the internet speed delivered to an individual household, phone or business. The sources do not establish an end-user speed attributable to MAREA.
What “open design” means
MAREA was announced as an open system intended to interoperate with network equipment from different manufacturers. The design also aimed to make future upgrades easier as optical technology improved, rather than tying the cable permanently to one supplier’s equipment. Open equipment does not mean that anyone can plug into the cable; MAREA remains specialist wholesale infrastructure with controlled landing stations and network interfaces.
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Who uses MAREA?
Telxius was identified as the operator and manager, and the project announcement said Telxius sells capacity as wholesale infrastructure. The cable is consequently part of carrier, cloud and data-center connectivity rather than a retail broadband product that consumers order directly.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Was MAREA operating?
The Congressional Research Service described MAREA as operating between Virginia Beach and Bilbao when it discussed the later 200-Tbps figure. That establishes operation in the context of the CRS report, but the available evidence does not provide a live Telxius status page or a 2026 operational confirmation. It is more precise to say CRS described the system as operating than to claim continuous availability today.
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Why the 160-Tbps and 200-Tbps figures both appear
- 160 Tbps is the original eight-pair design capacity and Microsoft’s completion-era figure in September 2017.
- 200 Tbps is the later capacity reported after technology was integrated, based on an owner announcement described by CRS.
- The change reflects an upgrade to the system’s optical technology, not a different cable route or a correction to the 2017 length.
What MAREA changed for transatlantic networks
By connecting Virginia Beach directly with Bilbao on a southern Atlantic path, MAREA added privately financed capacity between a major North American data hub and Europe. Its eight-pair architecture and stated equipment interoperability were designed to support high aggregate throughput and later upgrades. The project’s resilience claim should be understood as a route-planning goal, not proof that the cable is immune to faults or that it replaces every other transatlantic path.
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