These cables, spanning thousands of kilometres, are responsible for the seamless digital communication that powers economies, connects communities, and supports critical infrastructure.
However, their often-overlooked fragility has been thrust into the spotlight following recent incidents in the Baltic Sea, where two significant cable disruptions have reignited concerns about the vulnerabilities of submarine cables.
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Rhys Morgan, regional vice president, of EMEA, media and networks at Intelsat told Capacity: “Undersea cables have long been vulnerable to accidental damage from fishing activities, anchoring, or natural events like undersea earthquakes and landslides.
“However, their resilience faced a significant test this week when two separate disruptions occurred in the Baltic Sea.”
The events in the Baltic underscore that undersea cables are susceptible not only to natural phenomena but also to deliberate sabotage.
While investigations into the Baltic incidents continue, they highlight the growing risks posed by potential seabed warfare.
Xavier Gondry, head of transport value stream at BICS, explains that such disruptions are not as rare as they may appear: “Subsea cable cuts are not uncommon. While this incident has received attention, cables are cut more often than most people realise, most commonly by accident thanks to an errant ship anchor.”
This view has been echoed by Julian Rawle, a submarine cable specialist and principal at Julian Rawle Consulting, who advises against jumping to conclusions about the incidents, which have coincided with the detention of a Chinese vessel and suspicions of Russian involvement.
Even in cases where malicious intent is suspected, the telecoms industry’s resilience mechanisms, including route diversity and rapid repair capabilities, have proven effective.
Gondry notes: “These types of outages are a lot more common than most may realise, which is why there are many contingencies in place for these scenarios.
“For example, consistent and effective monitoring processes, as well as automated alert systems, greatly reduce any potential downtime to services.”
The resilience challenge
While the Baltic Sea incidents did not cripple internet services, they exposed systemic vulnerabilities in subsea infrastructure.
Tony O’Sullivan, CEO of RETN points out that the Nordic and Baltic regions are not immune to these risks: “These events expose the broader weaknesses of Nordic and Baltic telecom infrastructure.” Although alternative routes mitigated the immediate impact, the reliance on a limited number of pathways reveals a concerning lack of redundancy in critical areas.
For O’Sullivan, the takeaway is clear: the industry must adopt a global perspective to future-proof its networks.
“Diversifying networks, balancing cost with redundancy, and collaborating to strengthen underserved regions and critical routes” are vital steps to ensure the resilience of global connectivity, he argues.
Building redundancy into network design
Addressing these risks requires proactive measures at the design stage. Morgan emphasises the need for a multi-layered approach: “More than ever, a hybrid solution that includes terrestrial/maritime cables, wireless technology, and satellites is needed to build that resilience into networks.
“One technology will not replace another one, but a multi-layered approach with these highly complementary technologies will deliver the resiliency and security that MNOs expect for their networks.”
Satellites play a particularly crucial role in this strategy, offering quick, flexible, and cost-effective connectivity, especially in remote or underserved areas.
According to Morgan, integrating GEO, LEO, and MEO satellite constellations into one seamless network provides “added levels of network resiliency and performance based on user demand and application requirements”.
Advancements in satellite technology, such as software-defined satellites and dynamic bandwidth allocation, further bolster their role in ensuring robust connectivity.
By integrating satellite systems into 3GPP standards, these networks are no longer standalone but fully interoperable with terrestrial mobile network operators (MNOs).
Global standards and collaboration?
Ensuring the resilience of submarine cables is not a task any single nation or company can handle alone.
Gondry highlights the importance of international cooperation: “Having international agreements such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is another way we guarantee collaboration happens at all points.
“These international standards help to facilitate cooperation between companies and nations to ensure proper cable protection, monitoring, and repairs take place.”
Steve Roberts, SVP of network investment at Exa Infrastructure, also highlights the importance of governmental involvement in boosting cable security.
He claims: “We are seeing governments and regulators starting to take the security of subsea cables more seriously, and this, coupled with continued investment into new projects, will mean that the impact of outages can be lessened in future.”
The industry is already learning from incidents like those in the Baltic. The focus is shifting toward building redundancy through route diversity and rapid response mechanisms. Gondry emphasises that “our main tool for resilience is route diversity within this infrastructure.”
However, he acknowledges that some risks will always remain. “Providing diverse paths and triggering system responses to be agile in the case of an incident is a great way of mitigating the risk to service.”
For O’Sullivan, resilience must be balanced with cost-efficiency, particularly in underserved regions.
“The stakes are high, but with the right strategies, we can mitigate these risks and build a more resilient digital future,” he says.
Morgan agrees: “A stable and resilient internet infrastructure has become critical for the economic growth and functioning of modern societies.”
By combining technological innovation, international collaboration, and forward-thinking design, the industry can better protect these hidden lifelines from both natural and man-made threats.
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