Submarine Cables- Deep Sea Connectivity that Runs the Internet

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Submarine Cables, An Introduction


Majority of internet traffic is transmitted through internet cables. Around 97% of internet traffic goes through these subsea cables. Submarine cables as long as 39,000 km under the deep belly of pacific and Indian ocean transfers data at lightning speed through optical fibre technology. Around 500 cables operated by the best telecommunication corporations throughout the oceans.

In fact it is quite amazing to see which cables are connecting your country to the internet on publicly accessible websites like https://www.submarinecablemap.com/.







In comparison to satellite transmission, subsea cables are durable, faster, and secure from hackers. From 1850, the installation of the first submarine cable between England and France under the French channel to the ubiquitous submarine cable network, let’s have a look at the history of this phenomenal technology.

History of Submarine Cables




The first submarine cable between France and England was used for telegraph communication. The primitive technology of the 19th century has come a long way since. Inconsistent materials prone to corrosion and shark attacks are now replaced with optical fibre cables which are covered with high density polymers jackets for protection against dangers of all kinds. The first cable was merely a little more than 30 km in length.


Sub-Sea Cables needs maintenance as 99.99% of internet traffic travels through it


Telegraph was invented back in 1839 in Britain by two scientists named Sir Charles Wheatstone and Sir William Cooke. The idea of transmitting messages across the Atlantic ocean started to emerge right away in the scientific community. An American painter and later turned inventor named Samuel Morse (famous for Morse Code) successfully transmitted messages underwater through a telegraph system in New York Harbour in 1842. Insulation on the transmission wire was achieved by applying India Rubber.

At the same time Sir Wheatstone and Sir Cooke kept experimenting in the UK as well and they applied a coating of gutta-percha, an organic extract from plants in Asia and Africa, for protection against leaking current.

In 1850, two Englishmen successfully laid the first cable in the Dover Strait between France and England. They chose the shortest distance between the two shores but only one message was ever sent on this line ever. On the night of 28 August, 1850 a French fisherman mistook it for a rare weed and cut a piece from the fire. He proudly thought of the copper core of the cable to be Gold.

How Transmission through Optical Fibre Cables Happen?


To send information through the optical medium, a fibre cable, light source and a light detector is required in its most rudimentary form. Light source could either be a light emitting diode (LED) or a powerful laser. A light beam modulated with the electrical signal is emitted through the light source at suitable wavelength according to the characteristics of optical fibre cable. Light detector on the other end receives it and converts it back to an electrical signal. 




Fun Facts about Submarine Cables




  • Over 97% of internet traffic is transmitted through submarine communications cables.
  • Submarine cables transmit data at the speed of light as optical fibre is used for transmission.
  • The fibre optic strands at the core of these cables are only as thick as a human hair.
  • Submarine cables are more secure than satellites.
  • The cables are buried in the ocean floor for protection, especially in shallow waters.
  • Data travels faster through the glass fibre of submarine cables than through the air, allowing these cables to transmit 64 terabits every second.
  • Space junk is a real problem, and submarine cables avoid contributing to it.
  • Submarine cables are more environmentally friendly than satellites because they avoid contributing to space junk.
  • The first submarine cable was installed in 1850 to transmit telegraphs.
  • The Monet cable project in 2016 was the first to land a submarine cable directly in a data centre.
  • The majority of a submarine cable's thickness is insulation to protect the fibre optic core.
  • Over 750,000 miles of submarine cables make up the internet's infrastructure.
  • Antarctica is the only continent that relies on satellites for internet connectivity.
  • The cold weather and glaciers in Antarctica have made it difficult to install submarine cables.

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