Reuters | March 12, 2025

Singapore is the third Southeast Asian nation with which Vietnam has established a "comprehensive strategic relationship".

• Southeast Asian countries, a major junction for cables connecting Asia to Europe, aim to expand their networks to meet the surging demand for AI services and data centres.

• Vietnam alone plans to launch 10 new submarine cables by 2030.

• In April last year, Vietnam's state-owned telecom company Viettel and Singapore's Singtel announced a preliminary agreement to develop an undersea cable linking Vietnam directly to Singapore, although no construction contract has been announced yet.

Telecom TV | March 12, 2025

This exclusive collaboration reinforces both companies’ strategic positions and improves connectivity in the region.

• This subsea cable between Izmir and Chania enhances geographical redundancy and ensures that international data connection remains uninterrupted.

• The state-of-the-art subsea cable between Izmir and Chania will be capable of carrying more than 25 Tbps per fiber pair and runs along a 4,000 km unique low-latency path.

Capacity Media | March 13, 2025

• The funding aims to enhance digital connectivity between Europe and Africa, boosting economic and technological development across the region.

• The project involves creating a dedicated African connectivity subsystem within the broader Medusa network, initially designed as a neutral and independent infrastructure linking Mediterranean countries.

• Designed for a lifespan of 25 years, the open-access cable aims to provide transparent, tailored connectivity solutions for various clients across the region.

• The cable will reduce potential network saturation by enhancing interconnectivity between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean while also improving redundancy and resilience across the network.

Economic Times | March 10, 2025

• The country currently hosts around 17 international subsea cables across 14 distinct landing stations located in Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, Tuticorin and Trivandrum.

• The 21,700 route km (Rkm) SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable system connects India to Singapore and France (Marseille) crossing Egypt through terrestrial cables.

• Meta’s Project Waterworth will bring industry-leading connectivity to the US, India, Brazil, South Africa, and other key regions.

• Driven by India's growing demand for digital services, this investment reaffirms commitment to economic growth, resilient infrastructure, and digital inclusion, supporting India's thriving digital landscape and fostering technological innovation.

Oxford News | March 10, 2025

• Meta has announced Waterworth, the company’s plan to build the world’s longest submarine cable system, stretching 50,000km (31,000 mile). The longest cable in the world will thus be owned by a single Silicon Valley firm.

• Over the past decade, there has been a shift in which subsea cables are increasingly being built by large individual technology companies themselves as opposed to the consortiums which used to build them.

• Waterworth skips Europe and China to connect the United States directly with major markets in the Southern Hemisphere. Having a cable which avoids hotspots like the Red Sea and the South China Sea can therefore be beneficial for global networks’ resilience.

• The cable will give Meta and potentially other U.S. firms enhanced access to markets in the South. It will also provide geoeconomic and informational advantages to the U.S. government.

Data Center Dynamics | March 10, 2025

• At the time, the cause of the breakage is not known, however, the Red Sea has historically presented a challenge to the subsea cable industry.

• The 25,000km Peace cable, put into service last September connects 14 points across 13 countries; France, Egypt, Cyprus, Kenya, the Maldives, Malta, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, Tunisia, and the UAE.

• The repair is expected to take several months. This is likely due to the cable ship capacity crunch, which has seen many projects delayed, and some re-routed.

• The industry has been suffering from a shortage of repair ships, despite several new vessels entering service in the last 18 months.

Submarine Telecom Forum | March 10, 2025

• Keppel Infrastructure fund (KIF) has acquired a 100 percent stake in the cable laying and repair company, Global Marine, from J.F Lehman & Company.

• Global Marine operates a fleet of six vessels, which provide maintenance and installation services for subsea fiber optic cable networks.

• The company has a “strong record” of contract renewals with telcos, hyperscalers, and global equipment suppliers.

• Last year, Keppel was reportedly discussing plans for new subsea cables between Vietnam and Singapore.Keppel Data Centres operates around 23 data centers across 13 markets.

Data Center Dynamics | March 04, 2025

• Southeast Alaska suffered an Internet outage last weekend after an Alaska Communications subsea fiber cable broke on February 28, 2025.

• During the outage, it was reported by local press that the Alaska Legislature’s website was offline and several state websites were unavailable.

• Alaska Communications operates a statewide fiber network and a diverse subsea cable system connecting Alaska to the US. 

• Other companies, such as AP&T have also looked to improve and develop subsea infrastructure for Alaskan communities.

Marine Insight | March 03, 2025

• Finland has released the Eagle S, a shadow fleet oil tanker detained since December for damaging undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.

• However, police stated that the probe into the case is still in progress, with eight crew members suspected of serious offenses.

• The Eagle S, a 74,000-deadweight-ton (dwt) tanker built in 2006, and sailing under the Cook Islands flag damaged four telecommunications cables and the Estlink 2 electricity connection between Finland and Estonia on December 25th.

• The Eagle S is believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”- a group of older tankers used to transport Russian oil to circumvent Western sanctions.

• The Eagle S is the third vessel in recent months to be detained and later released in connection with undersea cable damage in the Baltic.

Maritime Executive | March 02, 2025

• Meta’s Project Waterworth is not just proposed to be the world’s longest submarine cable but reflects ever-shifting geopolitical and geoeconomic landscapes.

• Connecting five continents, the proposed route, longer than the circumference of the planet, avoids areas subject to malign influence or control, such as the Baltic, Red and South China seas.

• Meta has specifically said the cable will support India’s continued rise in the digital realm. With the world’s largest population, India is both a massive source of data to train Meta’s AI products and an emerging hub for data centres.

• India’s role as a landing site is also important as Australia seeks to continue boosting economic and technology ties with New Delhi.

Capacity Media | February 26, 2025

• Recent disruptions, such as the Red Sea cable cuts, have exposed vulnerabilities in the crucial subsea internet infrastructure of the Middle East.

• This has prompted the industry to explore the current state of route diversity, the viability of alternative routes, the impact of geopolitical factors, pricing competitiveness, and the potential improvements in cross-border connectivity.

Capacity Media | February 24, 2025

• Australia’s first submarine “hypercable,” SMAP, is now fully manufactured and ready for ship loading at the ASN factory in Calais, France

• The 5,000-kilometre, 400 Terabit-per-second (Tbps) cable, developed by SUBCO, will connect Sydney, Melbourne (via Torquay), Adelaide, and Perth.

• SMAP is designed to be Australia’s most secure and resilient transcontinental subsea cable system. 

• It will feature full-armour protection to reduce the risk of outages, provide unprecedented 400Tbps capacity using space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology, and incorporate advanced sensing fibres to extend FiberSense capabilities up to 150 kilometres.

Maritime Executive | February 24, 2025

• An aging freighter was stopped and boarded in Kiel after a suspected cable damage incident, and in a familiar pattern, it was missing its port-side anchor. 

• The damage did not appear to be severe, as "the disturbance does not affect the functionality of telecommunications connections running in the cable," 

• Arne was allowed to go after a three-hour inspection, and made an uneventful transit of the Kiel Canal. 

• Finnish authorities say that it is possible that the CLion cable was damaged earlier, in the Christmas Day anchor-drag incident involving the tanker Eagle S. 

Data Center Dynamics | February 24, 2025

• The European Commission is the European Union’s executive body, responsible for new laws, budget, and representation of the union.

• Announced by the president of the European Commission on Baltic Energy Independence Day, the initiative introduces a range of measures to protect critical subsea infrastructure.

• Split into four parts - prevention, detection, response & recovery, and deterrence - the Joint Communication will support all EU member states in a variety of ways.

• “No realm of life is free from threats or hostile behavior today. Today we are taking steps to protect cables, detect and anticipate threats more quickly, and repair damage as fast as possible. Would-be perpetrators must also be deterred. This is what we propose today.” said Kaja Kallas, High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy/vice-president of the European Commission.

• In light of recent suspected sabotage, Germany also partnered with Israeli defense firm Elta to deploy an underwater stealth drone - dubbed Blue Whale - to patrol the Baltic Sea in light of recent events.

Reuters | February 24, 2025

• Swedish and Finnish police investigating a suspected case of sabotage of a subsea cable in the Baltic Sea say that damage may have occurred as early as January 26.

• The time closely coincides with that of an outage of a nearby subsea fibre optic cable linking Sweden and Latvia, which was reported at the time.

• A Swedish prosecutor said on February 3 he had concluded that a Maltese-flagged bulk carrier, the Vezhen, had ruptured the cable linking Sweden and Latvia with its anchor, but that it had been an accident and not sabotage.

Reuters | February 21, 2025

• A statement from Finland's National Bureau of Investigation said the cable damage was identified on Wednesday and that a preliminary investigation was launched the following day.

• Friday's incident marks the third time in recent months that Cinia's C-Lion1 cable has been damaged, after it was completely severed in November and December last year.

• The Baltic Sea region is on alert and the NATO alliance has boosted its presence after a series of power cable, telecom and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

• Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the government was being briefed and that damage to any undersea infrastructure was particularly concerning amid the current security situation.

The Guardian | February 26, 2025

• The Nigerian Federal Government is leading a conversation to ensure the protection of the submarine cables and prevent incessant submarine cable cuts and damages in the deep sea. 

• At the Submarine Cable Resilience Summit, which begins today in Abuja, members of the International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience have converged to build consensus on how to protect the submarine cables, improve resilience.

• 90 per cent of Nigeria’s internet traffic is based on sub-sea cables, so as the country continues to push for a stronger digital economy, it must ensure the resilience of that infrastructure.

• Their Federal Government is investing $2 billion in 90,000 kilometres of submarine cable network across the country to ensure connectivity and avoid events like the cuts that happened in West Africa in March last year 

• These cuts affected 13 countries in West Africa, because the four submarine cables were cut off the coast by underwater earthquakes.

Reuters | February 25, 2025

• Taiwan's coast guard said it detained a China-linked cargo ship on Tuesday after a nearby undersea cable was disconnected.

• China's Taiwan Affairs Office reports that damage to undersea cables is a "common maritime accident" which occurs more than a hundred times a year globally.

• Taiwan, whose government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, has pointed the finger at Chinese ships that carry "flags of convenience" of other countries and notes similarities to damage of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

• Taiwan has also complained about repeated patrols by China's coast guard in restricted waters around the Kinmen islands, now seen as “routine harassment." 

Telecom Review | February 17, 2025

• In the past eight years, no new submarine cables have been operationalized in the Asia Pacific. This has led to a shortage of resources and created challenges in the market.

• The launch of the ADC’s capacity has been eagerly anticipated by the industry. This milestone was achieved two months earlier than planned, following the completion of the ADC wet segment last November.

• This has helped to ease the strain on submarine cable resources.

• The availability of capacity will support the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and big data

The Defense Post | February 18, 2025

• The UN says fishing trawlers are causing the most damage to subsea cables by far, rather than spies, following several high-profile incidents of sabotage to subsea communications in the Baltic Sea in recent months.

• About 1.4 million kilometers of fiberoptic cables are laid on the ocean floor, enabling trade, financial transactions, public services, digital health, and education around the world.

• The laying and operation of underwater cables was long the preserve of a consortium of large telecoms operators, but the internet giants have largely taken over in recent years.

• According to the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), damage to subsea cables is not uncommon, with an average of 150 to 200 outages per year worldwide, or around three incidents a week.

• Given the growing importance of such cables, “every incident and every cut of the cable is much more noticeable,” In a bid to increase cable resilience, the UN is pushing for the international community to increase cooperation in this highly sensitive sector.

• The ITU and ICPC have set up a group of specialists tasked with developing solutions, who will meet for the first time from February 26 to 27 in Nigeria.