Subtel Forum | March 21, 2025

● The Government of Odisha’s Electronics and Information Technology Department is planning to build a state-of-the-art Submarine Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Puri, aiming to position Odisha as a global digital hub.

● India currently has 17 submarine cables connecting to 14 CLS facilities along its coastline, which serve as vital links between international undersea fibre optic cables and terrestrial networks.

● The project is expected to greatly enhance Odisha's digital infrastructure, attract investment in data centres, draw top tech companies, and create thousands of jobs. This initiative is also part of India's broader strategy to strengthen its position in the global digital economy as data-driven industries expand.

● The new facility will offer direct international fibre connectivity, reducing latency and improving internet speeds.

Data Center Dynamics | March 21, 2025

● Owned by Alaskan telecommunications provider General Communications Inc. (GCI), the Alaska United Southeast cable suffered an outage on March 13, 2025. Repairs were completed by March 17, 2025.

● The damage did not impact Internet service when the problem was flagged, so traffic was able to be diverted

● Customers were able to receive some Internet and cell phone service through alternative technologies, such as satellite and microwave. The Alaska United Southeast cable is the only cable to currently land in Sitka.

Capacity Media | March 14, 2025

● The FIG cable project, launched last month, plans to link seven countries across the Middle East, including Iraq, with an expected total capacity of up to 720 Tbps.

● The FIG cable, unveiled during Capacity Middle East 2025, is expected to be completed by 2027.

● FIG will become the fourth subsea cable landed in Iraq, with additional contracts planned beyond the one signed with Qatari Ooredoo Group to “strengthen Iraq's position as a strategic regional corridor”.

● “These projects contribute to maximising state revenues, in addition to achieving security and economic stability by attracting major international companies and countries wishing to use Iraq as a major hub for their communications.”

Ocean News | March 18, 2025

● National Grid has awarded two parts of a £59 billion High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) supply chain framework to deliver the required works and equipment needed for key energy projects across the country.

● Contracts have been secured for a five-year period, with the potential to extend for a further three years.

● Ben Wilson, President of National Grid Ventures, said: “National Grid is already the largest operator of subsea power cables in the world, the majority of which we delivered in the last six years.

● Delivering the necessary infrastructure to enable the energy transition will boost the security of supply, drive economic growth, and create thousands of new jobs.

Ocean News | March 19, 2025

● NKT is launching a new cable monitoring solution, integrating multiple sensors to provide a comprehensive overview of power cable conditions, aiming to increase the reliability of power cable grids.

● By integrating and analyzing this data together, the platform can identify suspicious activities, such as vessels passing slowly, fishing equipment or anchors being pulled near the cable, and other risks that could lead to cable damage.

● “Our solution enhances the ability to monitor and safeguard power cables but also helps cable owners prepare for and mitigate potential failures. Reducing outage times for a cable includes readiness in case a critical situation occurs.”

● NKT’s cable monitoring solution is set to modernize the way power cables are managed, offering to safeguard and increase reliability.

Al Jazeera | March 10, 2025

●

Recent cases of damage to submarine cables around the island and in Europe

suggest that proving sabotage may be no easy task.

●

In January, NATO launched Baltic Sentry to step up surveillance of suspicious

activities by ships in the Baltic Sea.

●

Beijing and Moscow have denied any involvement in sabotaging undersea

cables. “This is what the entire grey zone is about. It’s about being deniable,”

said Ray Powell, the director of Stanford’s Sea Light project.

●

Subsea cables – which crisscross the globe carrying 99 percent of

intercontinental digital communications traffic – regularly suffer damage due to

age, environmental changes and marine activities like fishing.

●

“The simplest way for a bad actor to break a cable is to make it look like one of

the accidents that commonly cause such breaks.” Kevin Frazier, a Tarbell fellow

at the nonprofit Lawfare, told Al Jazeera.

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.