Amazon’s new Fastnet cable can stream 12.5 million HD movies

Amazon is building its first subsea cable, Fastnet, linking Maryland and Ireland.

sarah

Nov 4, 2025 - 22:51

Amazon’s new Fastnet cable can stream 12.5 million HD movies

Amazon has previously invested in several subsea cable projects, including Jako, Bifrost, and Havfrue as part of a consortium, but Fastnet is the first project the tech company is undertaking alone.

Matt Rehder, Vice President of Core Networking at Amazon Web Services, spoke about Amazon's subsea cable investments in an interview, stating, "Subsea is critical for AWS and international connectivity across the ocean."

He added, "Without subsea, you'd have to rely on satellite connectivity, which can work." "But satellites have higher latency, higher costs, and you can't get the same capacity or throughput that our customers and the internet in general require."

Amazon says Fastnet will have a capacity of more than 320 terabits per second, equivalent to streaming 12.5 million HD movies simultaneously. The company is building the cable to meet the growing demand for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and edge applications that utilize Amazon Web Services.

Fastnet will also enhance the resilience of Amazon's network. Amazon did not disclose the cost of building Fastnet, but the company said it expects it to be operational by 2028. Other technology giants such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft are also investing in subsea cable infrastructure.