In the Baltic Sea or near Taiwan, in recent months, submarine cables have become the objective of attacks to paralyze or slow down communications in certain areas of the world. Yesterday, a cable submerged in the Red Sea was cut, strongly altering the quality of the Microsoft cloud service service, Azure. Because these links play an essential role, not to say essential, in the proper functioning of telecommunications worldwide.
Taken from one end to the other of the planet, the “submarine cables” carry within them the optical fiber. They allow data flows to connect to connect everyone and, therefore, expedite exchanges, with the speed we know.
A spectacular but necessary deployment
After about 260 cables in 2014 in more than 600 in 2025, their number should not stop growing in the coming years, particularly thanks to private actors.
Because if some operators have made it a specialty, for example, orange, with its marine orange subsidiary, now it is the digital giants who want to have their own cable to avoid the payment of certain royalties … and make him pay passed.
Some of the most efficient cables represent up to 500 terabits per second, a speed that should double in the next ten years. The multiplication of these infrastructure is essential for the proper development of countries and, above all, makes it possible to compensate for the possible breakdown of one of them. In that cut in the Red Sea, Microsoft had indicated that the Internet could decrease without this causing significant cuts.
To install an underwater cable, you need … a ship. But not anyone: a boat capable of storing with a very thick and particularly long wire, which will then place at the bottom of the water. The technique is old: the first cables date back to 1838. However, it has greatly improved with the centuries and decades.
A low espionage risk
But the risk of spying on these cables remains relatively low due to the complexity of this procedure, but also to the need to have an adequate marine device (the cables are placed very deeply in the oceans). The voluntary or not (cut or damage it) is still the main causes of decelerating a cable flow, particularly by drags or spy divers.
However, in January 2025, NATO had explained that it wanted to “improve” the organization’s capacities against what it considered “detection acts”, particularly when they deploy patrols (marine or air) near the most critical cable places.
Submarine cables, beyond the risks incurred, are above all a problem for sovereignty. France appears, with the United States and the United Kingdom, of Pioneer with significant knowledge. It is not at all in November 2024, the French state acquired 80% of the underwater networks of Alcatel.
While France is in “War Economy”, dominating the ties that connect us with other countries is an important point. Especially because competition is now hard in this sector.
Beyond China, who no longer wants to have to have Western cables, now it is the GAFAM, including goal (Facebook) and Google, who have undertaken a work by Titan with a “super cable” that connects angels with Brazil, passing through South Africa, India and Australia. Projects of several billions of dollars, justified by the promise of significant autonomy for technological companies against the countries on which they still depend.
Source: BFM TV
