News
The group’s formation is timely, following the high-profile damage to subsea cables in the Baltic Sea earlier this month
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) have joined forces to create a new advisory group focused on protecting submarine cables.
Submarine cables carry over 99% of international data, making them essential for everything from online shopping and financial transactions to digital health services and education. However, is critical infrastructure is vulnerable to damage from fishing, anchoring, natural disasters, equipment failures, and potentially deliberate sabotage, with around 150 to 200 faults reported each year, according to data from the ITU.
As such, this newly formed advisory body will bring together governments, industry leaders, and experts to develop best practices for protecting cables, speed up cable repairs and deployment efforts, and reduce risks to existing cables.
“The formation of this International Advisory Body with ITU marks another step toward safeguarding our global digital infrastructure,” said ICPC Chair, Graham Evans in a press release.
“By working together, we can promote best practices, foster international collaboration, and create a consistent approach to protect the vital submarine cable networks that underpin global connectivity,” he added.
The advisory group currently includes 40 members, including government ministers, telecom regulators, and industry experts. It will be co-chaired by Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, and Sandra Maximiano, Chair of Portugal’s National Communications Authority (ANACOM).
The group will meet at least twice a year, with the first virtual meeting planned to take place next month. A physical meeting at the Submarine Cable Resilience Summit in Nigeria will follow in February.
The formation of this advisory group comes just days after a pair of submarine cables were severed in the Baltic Sea, putting the submarine cable industry under the international spotlight. An investigation into the cause of the damage is already underway, with European governments saying at the time that they feared the incident could be an intentional act of sabotage on behalf of malicious state actors.
This week the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson requested that Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 return to Swedish waters as part of the investigation, as the incident occurred inside Sweden’s exclusive economic zone (the area of the sea to which a country has exclusive rights). The ship was in the area at the time of the damage.
Just yesterday, it was revealed by the Wall Street Journal that the ship is currently surrounded European vessels after investigators suspect that the ship deliberately dragged its anchor 100 miles across the Baltic Seabed.
The investigation is still ongoing and the ship’s crew is cooperating.
“Neither sabotage nor an accident can be ruled out,” said Katja Bego, a Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House, speaking to Reuters.
Join us at next year’s Submarine Networks EMEA in London. Discounted tickets available here!
Also in the news:
VMO2 launches UK’s first 5G standalone small cells in Birmingham
BT says Labour’s budget will cost company £100m
Vodafone Spain and Telefonica complete FibreCo deal