Hidden beneath the ocean, more than 1.4 million kilometers of subsea cables—each about the width of a garden hose—quietly carry nearly all the world’s international data. These cables are the backbone of global digital communication, driving economic activities from emails to financial transactions and enabling daily interactions across continents. In highly connected regions like the Indo-Pacific, where data traffic is rising rapidly, these cables serve as essential infrastructure, holding the digital economy together.
The Vulnerabilities of Seabed Infrastructure
Despite their critical role, subsea cables face significant risks. These cables and other undersea assets, such as oil pipelines and wind farms, are exposed to threats due to their vast and dispersed nature. More than 70% of cable disruptions are accidental, caused by fishing nets, anchors, harsh weather, and, occasionally, shark bites or sinking ships. This complexity and the difficulty of monitoring underwater make it challenging to distinguish between accidental and deliberate damage, creating an opportunity for potential attackers to exploit these weaknesses.
A common misconception is that a single cable route is enough to maintain reliable connectivity, but this oversimplification ignores the modern digital economy's demands.
Dispelling the Myth: A Single Route Can’t Sustain Connectivity
In regions like the Asia-Pacific, which accounts for nearly 60% of the world’s internet population, bandwidth demand is surging. TeleGeography projects Trans-Pacific bandwidth demand to grow 31% each year until 2029, with both global hyperscalers and network providers making significant investments in the region to meet these needs.
However, reliance on a single connection can compromise two critical factors—latency and resiliency. Latency, or the time it takes for data to travel, and resiliency, the ability to withstand and recover from disruptions, both suffer without alternative routes.
Typhoons that struck Southeast Asia in 2017 illustrate this vulnerability: major cables like AAG, ASE, and TGN-IA, which land in Hong Kong, were damaged, severely slowing or entirely halting internet connectivity in affected areas. More recently, in February 2024, three cables were cut in the Red Sea, disrupting 25% of Asia-Europe data traffic and exposing the risks of single-route dependence in vulnerable regions.
The High Cost of Limited Connectivity
When businesses and economies rely on limited connectivity options, they expose themselves to considerable risks, such as increased latency, disrupted services, and reduced resiliency during geopolitical tensions or natural events. According to studies, Asia-Pacific companies collectively lose $300 million annually due to connectivity delays and outages. These losses are particularly harmful for industries where real-time data is crucial, such as healthcare, finance, and emergency response. A delay in transmitting patient data, for example, can jeopardize treatment outcomes, while even a millisecond delay in financial data can translate to millions of dollars lost, affecting client trust and business performance.
This lack of resilience can lead to productivity declines, service disruptions, and ultimately erode customer trust. Companies that rely on single routes risk their continuity and face unpredictable downtimes, which can damage their reputation and weaken their position in a competitive market. Service interruptions also create a ripple effect, impacting employee morale and the broader economy as businesses struggle to maintain the performance and responsiveness their clients expect.
Telin’s Multi-Route Strategy for Resilient Connectivity
Securing subsea infrastructure is challenging, yet the solution lies in building resilient, multi-route systems.
Telin has prioritized the creation of a global, multi-route network that offers redundancy, reduces latency, and enhances protection from geopolitical and environmental disruptions. With over 250,140 kilometers of subsea cables worldwide, Telin’s infrastructure spans continents, providing stable and reliable connectivity across regions.
Telin’s proactive infrastructure investment: Key investments in systems like the Bifrost cable address these challenges by choosing alternative paths that avoid geopolitically sensitive areas, improving both latency and security. Projects such as PEACE, TOPAZ, BIFROST, SE-ME-WE-6, and SJC2 further strengthen routes across Asia, Europe, and the U.S., ensuring seamless data transmission with minimum latency.
Telin’s new initiative in preparing for future demands: Telin is also spearheading the Indonesia Cable Express (ICE) initiative, a visionary project to enhance Indonesia and the region’s digital connectivity. This ambitious project aims to bridge geographical boundaries, enhance communication networks, and encompasses seven innovative systems designed to seamlessly integrate Indonesia into the global digital landscape.
Through these multi-route networks, Telin mitigates the risks associated with single-route reliance, empowering industries and enabling businesses to operate with the stability and speed necessary in today’s digital environment. By choosing routes that minimize latency and circumvent vulnerable zones, Telin delivers a robust infrastructure capable of withstanding diverse challenges.
In the ever-evolving digital world, single-route reliance is no longer a viable option. Through ongoing investments in resilient and innovative infrastructure, Telin remains at the forefront of connectivity solutions, safeguarding the future of digital connectivity for generations to come.
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