India’s Undersea Cable, Expansion, Significance

Undersea Cable are vital for global communication, transmitting 95% of international data. These fiber-optic cables lie on the ocean floor, connecting continents and enabling high-speed internet, phone, and data services across the world.

Table of Contents

Context: India is expanding its internet infrastructure with new undersea cable systems. The latest addition is Airtel’s 2Africa Pearls system, adding 100 terabits per second of capacity to India’s international bandwidth.

What are Undersea Cable/Submarine Cables?

Submarine Cables are fibre-optic cables that run along the ocean floor, carrying data between continents.
They are the backbone of the global internet, responsible for the majority of international communications, including video calls, email and webpages.
Significance of Under Sea Cables: 90% of data, 80% of world trade and $10 trillion in financial transactions depend on these cables.

Major Cable Landing Hubs

Mumbai and Chennai are the two key locations for subsea cable landings.
Versova, Mumbai, alone hosts 95% of India’s subsea cables within a 6-km stretch.
17 international subsea cables land in the country.

Expansion of India’s Undersea Cable Network

India is enhancing its undersea cable network with two new systems, the India Asia Xpress (IAX) and the India Europe Xpress (IEX), set to launch in the next three months.
The IAX will connect Chennai and Mumbai with Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, while the IEX links these cities to France, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Djibouti.
These cables, over 15,000 kilometres in total length, are owned by Reliance Jio with investment from China Mobile.

Significance of Submarine Cables

Submarine cables are vital for global communications, they carry over 99% of international internet traffic.
They enable critical services such as commerce, financial transactions, government activities, digital health and education.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

It is a United Nations agency that coordinates global telecommunications networks and services. (ITU became a specialized agency of the United Nations in 1947).
ITU was founded in 1865 with the International Telegraph Convention. (HQ -Geneva, Switzerland).
International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience
It is a partnership between ITU and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) to improve the resilience of submarine cables.
The body is made up of 40 members from around the world, including ministers, heads of regulatory authorities and senior telecommunications experts.
India’s telecom secretary is also part of the body.

Undersea Cables vs Satellite Internet

Component	Undersea Cables	Satellite Internet
Latency	Offer ultra-low Latency (milliseconds)	Higher latency (especially for high-orbit satellites)
Reliability	Longer Lifespans (~25 years)	Exposed to space weather conditions (space debris, solar storms etc.)
Cost Considerations	Cheap and stable bandwidth per user	Higher costs per user (especially for high-speed data transmission)