telecommunications
Submarine cables should be better protected
Submarine cables are damaged more than 150 times a year. Mostly due to accidents, for example with ship anchors. The UN telecommunications organization ITU now wants to do something about it.
It is estimated that there are 150 to 200 cases of damage to undersea data cables worldwide every year. The UN telecommunications organization ITU, together with industry representatives, has now founded an international advisory committee to improve the protection of submarine cables.
On average, three repairs are carried out every week, reported ITU Deputy Secretary General Tomas Lamanauskas in Geneva. At least 80 percent of the damage was caused by accidents, such as those involving ship anchors. Other damage comes from natural disasters such as those in Tonga in 2022, where a volcanic eruption damaged a cable and cut off communications in the Pacific island nation for weeks.
Lamanauskas declined to comment on the recent case of possible sabotage on two submarine cables in the Baltic Sea. The ITU and the new committee are not commissioned to investigate the causes of damage.
500 submarine cables worldwide
According to him, there are around 500 submarine cables worldwide, which usually function for 25 years. 99 percent of international data runs through these cables.
The new committee will advise countries, among other things, on how they can protect cables, what needs to be taken into account when granting licenses efficiently and how they can ensure that the topic of submarine cables is taken into account in all marine discussions.
dpa
Source: Stern
