Why are subsea cables important?

Undersea Cables and Their Role in India’s Internet Networks
• Undersea cables are the main link connecting the world’s internet networks.
• They connect internet service providers and telecom operators worldwide with those in other countries.
• These cables are a few inches thick and heavily padded to withstand the hostile environment of the sea floor.
• At each “landing point,” these cables make landfall and go further inland to connect to a “landing station,” where they become accessible to major networks.
• Each modern cable has several hundred gigabits per second of capacity, and can support thousands of telecom users.

India’s Undersea Cables and Terrestrial Networks
• India has two major hubs of cable landing sites: Mumbai and Chennai.
• 95% of subsea today goes into a small six-kilometre patch in Versova, Mumbai.
• In total, 17 cable systems land at some point in India.
• India also has two domestic cable systems — the Chennai Andaman and Nicobar Islands (CANI) cable to provide high-speed connectivity to the islands, and the Kochi Lakshadweep Islands project.

Risks and Recommendations for India’s Subsea Cable Infrastructure
• More cables land in Singapore, a small city-state, than in all of India, making India vulnerable to the consequences of cable cuts at sea.
• Companies laying subsea cables complain of excessive permissions needed to land a single cable in India.
• More domestic investment in cable repair capabilities is needed.