The underwater cables remain the king for internet traffic
internet traffic is carried by submarine cables (SMCs) and only 1% by satellite links? The 2022 edition of TeleGeography depicts this as 486 cable systems and 1,306 landings, active or under construction — a length of 1.3 million km of cables on the ocean floor, good enough to go around the world 32 times. That is some progress after the Atlantic Telegraph Company’s first transatlantic undersea cable allowed Queen Victoria to message American President James Buchanan in 1858.
SMCs, which form the backbone of global communications, leverage fibre-optic technology, converting phone, video and internet data into digital signals, which modulate a laser light source to transmit data across an optical fibre no thicker than human hair at 200 terabits per second. After converting to digital signals and further decoding at the landing station, data traverse terrestrial networks to data centres, ISPs and users.
Closer to the coastline, the cables, wrapped in armour that resemble a thick garden hose, are buried deep in planned routes. Buoys are warning markers to avoid damage from ship anchors and fishing boats.
Sea wildlife also causes cable mutilation, but deeper in the ocean, the chances of damage are less. According to Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), there are more than 100 cases of SMC impairment every year, and higher-than-average disruptions happen in the Strait of Malacca, a shipping corridor that contains more than a dozen cables connecting Asia, India, West Asia and Europe; choke points include the Strait of Luzon between Taiwan and the Philippines, and the crossing of Egypt.
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