Picture this: the warm summer sun on your skin, your toes buried in the sand, ocean waves patting the shore—and in the distance, the hulking majesty of a submarine cable repair vessel.
It's Submarine Cable Summer.
Kick back and enjoy this round-up of the best reads, podcast episodes, and more on what's under the sea.
Beach Reads | Poolside Playlist | Roadtrip Entertainment
Beach Reads
The Future of Submarine Cable Maintenance: Trends, Challenges, and Strategies
How do we understand and address the challenges facing the submarine cable maintenance sector?
That's what Mike Constable of Infra Analytics and TeleGeography’s Lane Burdette and Alan Mauldin lay out in this landmark report. Soak up the sound of the ocean waves and insights such as: a forecast of how the increase of new cable kilometers and corresponding cable faults may influence the demand for repair vessels; how the evolving regulatory and geopolitical macro-environment will shape the submarine cable ecosystem; guidance for industry leaders to consider the future requirements and sustainability of the maintenance sector and its challenges. Get the report.
Shore Things: A Data-Driven Look at Submarine Cable Landing Stations
Where are submarine cable stations located? What is the average number of cables per CLS?
This analysis by Lane Burdette summarizes the data from TeleGeography’s new cable landing station (CLS) database.
The sample size of over 1,500 CLS—representing over half of all current and planned cable landings—provides insight into CLS diversity and common features, including their ownership and distribution within global metros.
View and save the report here.
How Many Submarine Cables Are There, Anyway?
As telecom experts, we know because we keep track. We won't give the answer away here, but we'll tell you this: the number of in-service systems is greater now than in any other year within the last two decades! Find out in this post.
Is It Sabotage? Unraveling the Mystery of Undersea Cable Breaks
We're seeing that word in the media an awful lot these days. Cable faults were once an aspect of the industry entirely hidden from common view. Nowadays, any cable fault in the Baltic or off the coast of Taiwan is guaranteed to result in a flurry of headlines like, “Another Undersea Cable Attacked in the Baltic Sea.” So what—or who—is behind these breaks? Get the inside scoop here.
Building Tomorrow's Internet: A 2025 Update on Cable Investment
Over $13 billion. That's the estimated value of new submarine cables planned to enter service between 2025 and 2027, according to new data in our Transport Networks Research Service. Read the latest on cable investment here.
Poolside Playlist
TeleGeography Literally Explains Transport Networks
Hey, telecom is complicated. That's why this podcast episode explains what transport networks literally are, with TeleGeography experts Greg Bryan, Paul Brodsky, Peter Wood, and Lane Burdette. (We have a series that literally explains other parts of the internet too.) Check out the episode here.
What Happens to Cables When the Earth Moves Under Our Feet?
While most cable faults are caused by human activity, a fair number are caused by changes in the seafloor, including earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and even flooding on land. This episode's guests from the UK’s National Oceanography Centre are geologists specializing in the sea floor: Isobel Yeo, Researcher in Geology and Volcanology, and Michael Clare, Principal Researcher of Ocean BioGeoscience and Marine Environmental Adviser to the International Cable Protection Committee. Listen to the conversation here.
Behind the Seas: Making Our Famous Submarine Cable Map
There's a good chance you first heard about TeleGeography through one of our maps—just like senior researcher Lane Burdette, who now helps make them. Lane and Greg are joined by our now former designer and cartographer Larry Lairson to share what data goes into our submarine cable maps, how we collect that information, and how we translate data into beautiful visuals. Learn how we make our maps.
Roadtrip Entertainment
TeleGeography's Submarine Cable Map
Whether you're a seasoned Submarine Cable Map aficionado or you're learning about it now, this interactive map is a great companion for your long-haul roadtrip. Explore cable systems around the world and have fun with data. Here's the map.
Can't get enough cables?
You need TeleGeography's Transport Network Research Service.
With detailed profiles of more than 455 network service providers and 650 submarine cable systems, Transport Networks Research Service is the most comprehensive source in the global telecoms industry for:
- Bandwidth supply and demand analysis by region and route
- Key data and analysis on major content providers, including metrics on international bandwidth growth
- Comprehensive wholesale bandwidth pricing trends
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