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The UK Government (DCMS) has today published a new White Paper, which sets out their final proposals for a new criminal penalties regime (i.e. bigger fines and longer prison sentences), as well as new telecoms infrastructure security and resilience duties, to help tackle those who damage critial subsea infrastructure (CUI) essential for UK broadband access and trade.
Subsea fibre optic cables often suffer damage. According to the United Nations ICPC (here), an average of 150 to 200 faults occur globally each year and require about three cable repairs per week (97% of such breaks are NOT malicious). In addition, it usually takes a few weeks to fix a break, albeit depending upon the type of break, its depth, weather conditions and various other factors.
