What are submarine cables?

The transmission quality of a submarine cable is significantly better than the one offered through the  satellite. Submarine cables are only a few inches thick and they carry only a few optical fibres. Yet they have transmission capacities of the order of terabits per second (Tbps).

These under sea cables provide vital international telecommunication links between countries across the world and there is no effective substitute available.

In August 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 2,300-kilometre-long submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Andaman & Nicobar Islands to the mainland. This has brought high-speed broadband connectivity to the islands. 

These cables terminate in the country through cable landing stations. Access to submarine cable landing stations is an essential input for telecommunication services including broadband requiring international connectivity.

A submarine cable system consists of a communication cable laid on the sea bed between cable landing stations (CLS) on the land to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean.

Submarine cable systems generally use optical fibre cables to carry international traffic. They offer highly secure, reliable and very high capacity telecommunication links between countries across the world.

However, a typical multi-terabit, trans-oceanic submarine cable system costs several hundred million dollars to construct. There are more than a dozen submarine cable systems that connect India to the world.

In September last year, Facebook announced that its subsea cable project 2Africa, which it is building in partnership with several telecom companies, will become the longest subsea cable system ever deployed.  

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The 2Africa consortium announced the addition of a new segment called the 2Africa PEARLS branch – extending to the Arabian Gulf, India and Pakistan.

This extension will bring the total length of the 2Africa cable system to over 45,000 kilometres. 2Africa will provide connectivity to 3 billion people or 36% of the global population. 2Africa will connect 19 countries in Africa and 33 in total. The system has a total of 27 landings in Africa and 46 in total. 

It will surpass the current record set by SEA-ME-WE 3 cable system, which is owned by 92 telecom companies and stretches 39,000 km, connecting 33 countries across four continents - Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.