Tons of information is floating around the seabed every day. And data traffic is doomed to increase exponentially. In fact, submarine networks handle most of the world’s data traffic and have become essential for web services and their users to guarantee the smooth operation of platforms. The ‘steam masters’ of the web, starting with the Americans of Google and Facebook, have invested billions of dollars to increase data transfer capacity, and even China is reportedly building its own network. Europe is trying to join the race: projects in the pipeline include maxi-links with Japan (via Alaska) and Brazil, while Italy is interested in Medusa, the cable to Africa.
where the data goes
Contrary to popular belief, satellites transmit only 1% of international Internet data (mainly to reach remote locations), while the rest use submarine connectivity. According to information collected by Telegeography (a company that does market research on telecommunications) and reported by El Diario, there are approximately 530 cables active or in the process of being laid, covering approximately 1.3 million kilometers of seafloor. It’s important to note, however, that “exact figures change as installations are continually being deployed or decommissioned,” the company said.
Since the first cable was laid between Ireland and Newfoundland (in Canada) in 1850, installations have increased with the use of telephone first, then the internet. The wires are arranged by ships specially adapted for this purpose, carrying them and placing them on the seabed. An underwater plow is also used to bury closer to shore where activities such as mooring and fishing can damage infrastructure. Where traditionally these facilities have been owned by both public and private telecom operators, their importance is now such that tech giants such as Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon have become major investors in the construction of new cables.
European projects
As we said, Europe tries not to fall behind in controlling this digital infrastructure network and looks at all directions. On one side is South America, with the 6,000km EllaLink cable between Portugal and Brazil. One of the most ambitious projects is the 14,000 km long fiber optic cable that will connect Scandinavia and Ireland to Japan via the Arctic, Greenland, Canada and Alaska. The cable will be the first to connect Europe and Asia without crossing the Suez Canal in Egypt, a critical point for internet infrastructure and international trade as it is at the center of a geographic region prone to instability policies. On the other hand, it shows that there are well-defined geopolitical strategies behind these maxi cables.
Maxi submarine cable between Italy and Africa on Europe’s “silk road”
Italy knows something about this, which is part of the Medusa project, which was adopted by the EU in 2021 to respond to the China-promoted New Silk Road, which aims to increase digital connectivity in the Mediterranean and strengthen its hegemony in Africa. The Medusa project consists of laying a high-capacity fiber optic submarine cable that should connect five Mediterranean European countries (Cyprus, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain) to four African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia). The infrastructure will have a total length of 7100 kilometers and will include approximately twelve landing stations for a total investment cost of 342m euros.
Problems to be solved
In general, cables should not harm marine ecosystems, as they are relatively small pipes (about 18-22 millimeters) protected by silicone, plastic and materials such as steel or aluminum. After some initial problems, such as whales getting entangled in cables, over the years companies have developed insulators to prevent similar accidents, and in 2014 Google announced that their structures would be coated with Kevlar, a material used in products such as waterproof jackets. ski equipment.
On the other hand, there are complications from natural events such as large fishing boats, ship anchors and, to a lesser extent, earthquakes: about 100 cables fail in some way each year. The failure of us users to realize this depends on the companies’ ability to diversify their connection capacities among more than one submarine cable so that information can continue to be transmitted in case one of them fails.
There are no undersea optical fibers in Antarctica alone, even if there are plans to create a link to provide researchers with better communication. As this partially reflects the trend of man to occupy more and more natural space for his activities, environmental authorities should monitor its impact. The recycling of some of these facilities should also be encouraged so that their materials can be recycled or reused, according to experts such as New York University researcher Nicole Starosielski, who has studied the issue.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
