Top 10: Submarine Cable Projects
98% of our daily data is carried by cables under the sea. But until 1858, data was carried over the sea onboard ships. The first transatlantic telegraph cable was completed that year, uniting Ireland to Newfoundland, in Canada. However, it took two minutes to transmit a single character and the cable functioned for only three weeks before breaking. But the cable gave the world a taste of telecommunications. The demand for progress in communication was strong and has evolved to where we are today - subsea cables are capable of moving vast amounts of data across an open ocean in seconds. According to the Tele Geography Submarine Cable (SMC), there are 559 cable systems across the world, which transmit more data than satellites at lower cost.
To clarify two often interchangeable terms, ‘submarine cables’ specifically refer to long-distance telecommunication or power cables on the ocean floor, while ‘subsea cables’ refer to any underwater cables, including telecommunications.
Here, we look at the Top 10 submarine cable projects going on around the world.
10. Indonesia Singapore Cable System
Singtel partnered with PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin) to develop the INSICA (Indonesia Singapore Cable System), which connects Singapore to Indonesia. It is 100km long and has 24 fibre pairs, with a maximum capacity of up to 20 terabits per second per fibre pair. It is expected to go live in 2026 and will support the data centre market in the region, especially in regards to AI and emerging technologies.
9. Havfrue
Havfrue, which means ‘mermaid’ in Danish, is a subsea cable embedded across the North Atlantic, linking Northern Europe to the US. The cable spans 7851km, with a system capacity of 108Tbps and a trunk cable connecting New Jersey, USA to the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark, which also branches over to Ireland and Norway. It is operated by Aqua Comms, Facebook, Google and Bulk Infrastructure.
8. PEACE Cable
PEACE (Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe) is a submarine cable system built by PEACE Cable International Network Co., Ltd. It connects Asia and Africa, as well as Europe, from Singapore to Kenya to France.
The cable stands at 15,000km, which extends to 25,000km with additional parts. It has a capacity of up to 24 Tbit/s per fibre pair and uses WSS ROADM technology and 200G transmission technology. It became fully operational in December 2022.
7. Medusa
The Medusa cable will span a distance of 8,700 km and comprise of 24 fibre pairs, offering 480 Tbps (20 Tbs per fibre pair). Owner AFR-IX has estimated that the project will require a total investment of €326mn (US$374mn).
Valencia Digital Port Connect has been given the green light to construct the first subsea cable landing station (CLS) at the port of Alicante in Spain, as part of the Barracuda cable project. The Barracuda project will form part of the Alicante-Valencia-Madrid leg of the Medusa cable.
6. AEConnect-1 (AEC-1)
The future of Ireland’s digital economy is closely linked to its ability to provide connectivity between Europe and North America. The further development of the country’s subsea cable industry will form the keystone of a more connected future for Ireland.
The biggest submarine cable running out of Ireland is AEConnect-1 (AEC-1) which is operated by Aqua Comms, with 5,536km of cable connecting New York to Ireland.
5. Hawaiki
Lack of submarine cable infrastructure prevented New Zealand from developing a level of connectivity that would support hyperscale data centres. But with the arrival of the Hawaiki Cable in 2018, that was made possible. The Hawaiki submarine cable connects Invercargill on New Zealand’s south coast with the Australian East Coast, delivering latencies of around 24 milliseconds between the two countries.
The cable has given data centre access to a serviceable market of around 20mn people across New Zealand and Victoria, New South Wales and parts of Queensland in Australia.
4. EllaLink
EllaLink is a submarine cable system connecting Europe and Latin America. Running from Portugal to Brazil, the EllaLink has branches linking it to Madeira, Cape Verde and French Guiana. The optical submarine platform offers secure high capacity connectivity on a ‘unique and low latency diverse transatlantic route’. Its 6,000km of cable became operational in 2021, with the EllaLink providing the first-ever high-capacity direct fibres between the two continents.
3. SEA-ME-WE
The Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe subsea cable system (SEA-ME-WE for short) is a set of high-capacity communication cables which connect Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The cable route connects Saudi Arabia to Italy and many more.
New versions of the cables include SEA-ME-WE 4 and SEA-ME-WE 5, each of which are designed to meet growing data demands. The SEA-ME-WE 6 is expected to be running by 2025 and will further boost capacity and provide even faster data transmission, addressing the growing global demand for bandwidth.
2. EXA Express
EXA Infrastructure is a digital infrastructure platform connecting Europe and North America. As one of the leading data centre interconnectivity specialists, it owns 114,000 kilometres of fibre network across 34 countries. EXA’s network unites 300 cities and offers 13 Tier 3-equivalent data centres.
The EXA Express (previously known as ‘Hibernia’ and ‘GTT’), is a 4,600km Trans-Atlantic submarine cable system that offers six fibre pairs, connecting Canada and the UK, offering the lowest latency route from New York to London. It is specifically designed for the financial community and was first launched in 2015.
1. 2Africa
At 45,000km long 2Africa is the longest subsea cable project in the world, which will advance internet connectivity across Africa, Europe and parts of Asia.
Data Centre previously spoke to Ayotunde Coker after his appointment at Open Access Data Centres. He shared his excitement to be part of the OADC team and how he hoped to digitally transform Africa with subsea cables.
“After just a few months of operation, we already have live facilities in over 20 locations across South Africa including OADC Durban, which is landing the new 2Africa subsea cable. We are also hosting the Equiano cable landing station in our OADC Lagos data centre. I’m excited about what we are providing for Africa,” he said.
Don’t forget to check out our Top 10: Biggest Data Centre Projects.
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