Improved performance and redundancy come with deeper vendor entanglement. CIOs must benchmark architecture costs and enforce pricing clarity, analysts suggest.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is building Fastnet, a new dedicated transatlantic subsea cable system linking its data centers in the US and Ireland.
To go operational in 2028, the strategic placement of this subsea cable could ensure that AWS services would remain uninterrupted should other submarine cables face disruption. In addition, it will also create a network design for growing demands in cloud computing, AI, and edge applications that use AWS services such as Amazon CloudFront and AWS Global Accelerator, said the company.
Transatlantic push for AI and cloud era
For rapid data rerouting and multiple layers of redundancy, the Fastnet capacity will be capable of delivering more than 320 terabits per second (Tbps) and will include AWS’s centralized, real-time traffic monitoring system for implementing millions of daily optimizations to avoid congestion and other issues before they impact applications.
The Fastnet system will feature scalable, advanced optical switching branching unit technology positioned on the cable route to handle growing AI traffic loads and adapt to accommodate future growth, said the company.
“Transatlantic traffic is especially under strain due to the asymmetry between US-based AI model training and European data residency and inference execution,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO and chief analyst at Greyhound Research. “Fastnet directly addresses this choke point by introducing high-capacity headroom and a strategically placed alternate route that bypasses congested cable clusters in New York and the UK. It’s Maryland–Ireland span aligns with how enterprises now map digital estates: US East Coast for compute density and European landing zones for regulatory alignment.”
Designed for long-term reliability and performance, the optical fibers will be protected using additional layers of protective steel armor wires in nearshore areas to protect against natural and human activity.
Cloud providers dive deep
Over the last few years, the explosive growth in data and AI workloads has pushed hyperscalers to not just rely on shared infrastructure to meet the demand but also control the connectivity layer.
“This is like backward integration for cloud providers such as AWS. As cloud providers like AWS build and own subsea cables, power shifts from traditional telecom carriers to hyperscalers. This gives hyperscalers greater control over capacity, routing, and network management tailored to their cloud and AI service needs,” said Pareek Jain, CEO at EIIRTrend & Pareekh Consulting.
This brings forth advantages for CIOs.
“Hyperscaler ownership of subsea cables generally improves operational efficiency by integrating cable management with cloud network infrastructure, enabling real-time optimization and automated traffic management. This results in higher reliability and performance for end users,” added Jain.
Also, given the fewer handoffs involved, there will be better throughput and faster recovery when things go wrong.
Vendor dependency and cost ripple
However, this increased consolidation introduces new risks for enterprises. Dependence on the same company for running compute, storage, and the sea cable routes connecting regions increases the depth and complexity of vendor dependency.
“It also means you’re more exposed. You lose visibility into how traffic is routed or prioritised, and your resilience depends on a single vendor’s decisions. If that provider changes direction, pricing, or policy, your options narrow fast. Enterprises need to think hard about the leverage they have when one provider owns the cables, the compute, the tools, and the rules. This isn’t a network design question anymore, but the question of control,” Gogia said.
Technically, the increasing role of hyperscalers in building and owning subsea cables can have a significant and generally positive cost impact on enterprises, as this comes from the massive increase in supply and competition driven by these high-capacity cables. Yet, the final effect on enterprise pricing is complex.
Jain suggested that while subsea cables owned by hyperscalers could eventually lower network transit costs through internal economies of scale, the effect on enterprise pricing remains complex. Hyperscalers may hold greater pricing power, especially if their cable networks become essential for high-capacity international cloud connectivity. This could lead to pricing models that favor bundled cloud and network services, potentially reducing the transparency of network cost components for enterprises.
Enterprises expecting Fastnet to result in a drop in cloud data transfer bills are misreading the pricing stack, noted Gogia. “Real savings accrue only when CIOs treat connectivity as a negotiated layer, benchmark total architecture costs across two providers, and enforce cost predictability at high-volume replication thresholds. Without these measures, enterprises may experience improved performance but unchanged economic exposure, delivered through infrastructure they no longer influence.”
