Submarine Cable

With so much focus on land-based broadband network expansion, it's easy to take for granted how quickly most Internet users can access data on the other side of the globe within milliseconds. Many don't realize that almost all of our connectivity to other continents is accomplished via submarine cable, not by satellite or other means.

More than 95 percent of intercontinental Internet traffic travels via submarine cables. But these essential conduits for communication are at risk of being cut from a number of threats: accidents, political instability in key countries, and age. To keep the globe connected, redundancy is key--leading providers to search for new cable routes to get around key choke points. (Image source: Arctic Fibre )

A series of submarine cable outages in the past two weeks caused widespread disruptions of Internet service in the EMEA and Asia regions, leading to increased attention on the importance of alternate routes and better interconnectivity. For land-based Internet exchanges, the timing couldn't be better, according to Harald Summa, CEO of Germany-based DE-CIX Management GmbH.

Reliance Globalcom has lit its Hawk submarine cable in Egypt, adding another 20 Tbps of capacity that it says will enable consistent capacity levels between Europe, the Middle East, and India. The subsea network also includes a landing point in Cyprus, providing an alternative route to the troubled North Africa region.

Telecom New Zealand, Vodafone and Telstra on Monday signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to jointly invest in building a submarine cable between Auckland and Sydney that they claim will expand New Zealand's international connectivity and strengthen its links into Asian markets.

Hibernia Networks has been forced to stop work on its trans-Atlantic submarine cable, the Hibernia Express, over cybersecurity issues due to its work with Huawei.