Although they go through states like Russia, hostile acts on them would amount to self-sabotage. One third of these are land-based cables that connect EU member states to non-member states in Europe. In addition to powering our economy by facilitating over ten trillion euros of financial transactions daily, they enable our military command-and-control structures, drones, and other integrated and digital weapon systems vital for Europe’s defense.Ībout 250 active cables ensure the EU’s connectivity to the global internet. The lower costs and much higher capacities of undersea cables leave us firmly bound to them. Satellites, due to their comparatively high costs, are a partial alternative at best, suitable only for the most remote locations. From there, terrestrial cables and eventually submarine cables transfer our data over thousands of kilometers. Although we believe ourselves to be increasingly wireless, signals from our cable-free devices are in fact carried only as far as the nearest cell tower. They are the essential, yet often overlooked, scaffolding of our interconnected digital world. Maritime cables handle more than 95 percent of global internet traffic. Ties That Bind: EU Submarine Connectivity This would also help Germany to develop its foreign policy role, showing that it takes the concerns of others seriously and, in practical ways, is willing to lead by example while serving collective interests. In doing so, Germany can help itself while bolstering mutual resilience through both better teamwork within the EU and enhanced, practical cooperation with NATO. Germany now has an opportunity to demonstrate a new “team power” approach by helping to address the concerns and direct vulnerabilities of others. This also includes countries like Germany, which have no major underwater cables of their own but are dependent on the interconnections with other EU states that host such infrastructure. The deliberate attack on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in September 2022 brought the topic of submarine infrastructure to Europeans’ attention and highlighted how vulnerable to man-made threats the EU and its member states have become. Germany should push for closer EU cooperation with the new NATO initiative on submarine infrastructure, work with partners to strengthen Europe’s cable network, and propose to both increase and centralize EU repair and maintenance capabilities. This requires focusing on structural measures. To deal with the downsides of interdependence efficiently, the EU and its member states should bolster both mutual resilience and deterrence. However, the actors that may have an interest in – and the capacity for – disrupting them can disguise their attacks as accidents. Overt attacks on Europe’s cable connections remain improbable during peace time. Thus, it is significantly dependent on them. The data in this map were provided by EMODnet human activities.Germany is not home to major submarine cable connections so it must rely on the cable connectivity provided by other EU member states to transfer data to other continents. Click on one of the cables to learn more about its type, length, capacity, when it was installed and who maintains it. The map of the week features a schematic representation of the submarine communication cables that cross European waters. Submarine telecommunication cable networks cost billions to install 1 and need constant monitoring and repair, as they may be broken or damaged by trawl fishing, anchors, earthquakes, submarine landslides and even shark bites 2. However, this capacity comes at a significant price. These fibre-optic cables have the capacity to transmit data at a staggering 200 terabits per second 1, which vastly outpaces today’s satellite radio transmission (around 1 gigabits per second), making them the preferred means of communication. While these early cables consisted of insulated copper wires, which were simply dropped on the seabed, current generation submarine cables consist of optical fibres covered by many protective layers buried in the seafloor 2. Submarine cables have a long history starting with the first commercial submarine telegraph cable in the English Channel in 1850, closely followed by the first transatlantic cable in 1866 1. With over 99% of international internet and telephone traffic passing through submarine telecommunication cables 1, they are a vital though often forgotten part of today’s digital society. Whenever you access a website hosted on a foreign server, chances are high that the information you are receiving travelled through the depths of the ocean.
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