Major submarine cable disruptions occurred around the world. In late November, two submarine cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged: 1,170 kilometers of submarine cables between Finland and Germany were cut off, and 218 kilometers of Lithuania and Sweden's Gotland Island The internet connection stopped working. Submarine Fiber Optic Cable Security experts believe that an anchor dragged the optical cable for about 100 kilometers and they noticed a Chinese ship, the Yipeng, appeared in the area.

 

In February this year, four optical cables—AAE-1, Seacom, EIG, and TGN systems—were cut off in the Red Sea near Yemen. The single incident interrupted Internet services to more than 100 million people in West and North Africa, affecting 70% of data traffic between Europe and Asia, far exceeding initial estimates. It is reported that the anchor on a ship sunk by Houthi rebels was towed away, causing the optical cable to be cut off. The Houthi forces denied that they directly attacked the optical cables. Earth submarine fiber optic cable network These two incidents are by no means the only ones that have occurred in the past 12 months. The global submarine cable industry usually experiences about 200 cable disruptions every year.

 

Given the growing risks facing this critical telecom infrastructure, the United Nations established its first submarine cable network consulting agency on November 29. Nikkei Asia quoted ITU Deputy Secretary-General Tomas Lamanauskas as saying that the main goal of the new consulting body is to develop an agreement on "basic optical cable resilience practices." These measures include protecting optical cables from accidents caused by fishing or natural disasters and promoting government approval in the event of damage in territorial waters or on the continental shelf. Representatives of the Chinese and US governments have seats in the newly established consulting bodies. Other members of the organization include China Telecom, China Unicom, HMN Tech, Meta, Google, NEC, ASN, and the North American Submarine Cable Association.

 

Analysys Mason predicts in its latest forecast released in November that the global submarine fiber cable market will grow from US$7.96 billion in 2023 to US$9.8 billion in 2029. This includes investment in new systems and expenditures on the operation and maintenance of existing submarine cable systems.