An undersea fibre optic cable between Latvia and Sweden, damaged at the end of January – Sweden suspects Russian foul play. Earlier that month, a fleet of Nato vessels assembles off the coast of Estonia to guard undersea cables from sabotage. In the UK, MPs and Lords are due to investigate the vulnerabilities of undersea cables, thanks to an inquiry initiated by the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy. We think we live in a wireless world, or perhaps we believe that the instant communication we take for granted depends mostly on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites glittering above us.
Yet, in truth, it is the fibre-optic cables stretched for thousands of miles across ocean beds around the globe which bind our hyperconnected world. The first commercial cable was laid on the bottom of the English Channel in 1850: since that time a vast network of cables, and a vast industry of cable-laying and repair, has grown to keep us all talking to each other, to keep our economies on their path of alarming growth.
Content from our partners
