A network connecting two continents can hinge on a building smaller than many homes. Amazon Web Services plans to put Fastnet, a subsea cable between Maryland and County Cork in Ireland, into service in 2028. The company describes a design capacity above 320 terabits per second and presents the route as a way to diversify transatlantic data paths. But on September 16, 2026, the project’s immediate news concerned something much closer to the ground: a proposal for a compact power facility near Ocean City Municipal Airport in Maryland.
A new route, not merely a speed number
The 320-terabit figure is striking. It is, however, an announced design capacity, not traffic being carried today: Fastnet is not operating yet. AWS says the route’s value also lies in landing points distinct from familiar corridors. When several paths exist, a network can redirect some traffic if one connection runs into trouble. Resilience then depends on the complete architecture, links on land and the way operators manage those routes. No individual cable can make the internet immune to disruption.
Demand for capacity keeps growing with cloud services, globally distributed applications and artificial intelligence workloads. AWS intends to integrate Fastnet into its existing network and describes optical branching technology designed to accommodate future configurations. The business logic is understandable: controlling more paths may give a provider greater command over the performance offered to customers. That ambition should not be confused with a measured benefit for every end user already in hand. Evidence will come from how the system works after it enters service.
Why a cable needs a building
A transatlantic cable does not simply touch a beach and start working. Equipment along its length needs power to maintain an optical signal over a great distance. That is the purpose of the Power Feed Equipment, or PFE, building Amazon proposes on land at Ocean City Municipal Airport. According to the company, it would supply power to the cable and pass the signal to existing land networks. Amazon emphasizes a significant distinction: the structure would be neither a data center nor a full cable landing station.
The proposed building would occupy less than 700 square feet within a compound of under 2,500 square feet. Amazon describes a power draw of up to 350 kilowatts, no water use on site and operation without permanent staff. Technicians would visit for maintenance, while backup generators would undergo brief monthly tests in normal conditions. These specifications come from the company’s proposal; they describe a project to assess, not a local impact already observed. Residents and authorities need plans and verifiable studies against which to judge the commitments.
A proposal revised after concerns
Amazon says it previously considered a larger Worcester County facility that would include optical terminating equipment. After a local moratorium adopted in July 2026 concerning data centers and cable landing stations, the company says it changed course. The proposed PFE building would be smaller, with termination equipment moved to existing AWS infrastructure elsewhere. To proceed, Amazon is asking the county to change zoning rules applicable to the airport land. A request is not an approval; it is precisely the start of a public decision process.
That sequence is a reminder that a project called global consists of specific places. At either end, it needs a landing, a power supply, permissions and neighbors who will live with the installation. Reducing the building’s size may answer some concerns without removing the need for transparency. Amazon says the proposed site sits behind a tree line about 90 yards from the nearest home and promises a noise study. Those details are relevant to local discussion, but they should be examined as the company’s claims and plans, not as conclusions reached by independent review.
The cloud has a physical geography
The word cloud can suggest infrastructure without a location. Fastnet demonstrates the opposite: a path crosses an ocean, meets terrestrial networks and relies on equipment that consumes energy. Amazon argues that the proposed building would neither store nor process data. That answers a specific question about this site, without resolving every other question a cable and its network can raise: governance, cost, marine work and the dependence of digital services on large operators. A useful public conversation should not confuse these questions, but neither should it ignore any of them.
AWS has also announced community benefit funds for Maryland’s Eastern Shore and County Cork, to be shaped with local stakeholders. Such a commitment can accompany an infrastructure project, but it cannot replace permits or scrutiny of the project’s effects. The decisive questions will be what conditions govern construction, how promises are monitored and what benefits the communities can actually observe. The 320 terabits per second refer to a future network; for a county, the immediate issue is a site, a building and tangible safeguards.
2028 remains a target
Fastnet is therefore neither an available service nor just a line on a map. It is a project intended for 2028, with a capacity ambition and a local negotiation still underway. The new Maryland proposal reveals what sits behind a promise of faster, sturdier connectivity: zoning decisions, technical compromises and acceptance of equipment that may be discreet but is essential. Judging the project will require following both its construction and its dialogue with affected communities. Global networks always begin somewhere specific.
