Description

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Picture Courtesy: Livemint

Context

Disruptions to the under sea cables in the Red Sea, due to Houthi attacks, have increased latency for Indian telecoms, highlighting the vulnerability of India's internet infrastructure to geopolitical instability.

What are Undersea Cables?

Undersea cables are fiber-optic cables on the ocean floor, handling 99% of global data traffic (internet, calls, financial transactions).

Structure: Thin glass fibers in protective plastic/steel layers; data travels via laser pulses using total internal reflection, offering terabits-per-second speeds.

India’s Network: 17 international cables land at 14 stations (mainly Mumbai, Chennai), with 138.606 Tbps lit capacity and 111.11 Tbps activated. Mumbai’s Versova handles 95% of landings. (PIB)

How does it work?

Converts data: At a coastal station, digital data is converted into light pulses and encoded for high capacity using technology.

Fiber-optic transmission: The light travels by bouncing off the fiber's interior walls, preserving signal integrity over long distances.

Repeaters boost signal: Submerged repeaters amplify the signal every 70-100km to prevent degradation over thousands of kilometers.

Protected cable: The fiber is encased in multiple protective layers of plastic, copper, and steel to withstand the immense ocean pressure and potential damage from fishing or anchors.

Data received and decoded: At the destination station, the light pulses are converted back into electrical signals, decoded, and routed into the local terrestrial internet network.

	Undersea Cables	Satellite Internet
Capacity	High (Terabits per second)	Lower (Megabits to Gigabits per second)
Latency	Low, as data travels a shorter, direct path	Higher, due to the signal's long distance to and from orbit
Coverage	Limited to coastal areas and where terrestrial infrastructure connects	Global, reaching remote and rural areas
Reliability	High, but vulnerable to physical damage; repairs can take weeks	Can be affected by atmospheric conditions and weather
Cost	High initial cost, but low cost per unit of bandwidth over time	High initial cost and high cost per bit of bandwidth
Security	More secure due to physical nature; requires physical access to tamper	More susceptible to interception and cyberattacks
Deployment	Slow, requiring extensive planning and specialized ships	Relatively fast once satellites are in orbit

What is the Significance of Undersea Cables for India?

Digital Economy: Vital for India's $1 trillion digital economy, enabling high-speed connectivity for IT, fintech, and e-commerce.

Services Exports: Supports India's services exports and enables new technologies like 5G and AI.

Investment Magnet: A robust network attracts investments from data centers and tech giants, critical for the future economy.

Critical Infrastructure: Designated as essential, their disruption would severely impact governance and security.

Regional Hub: India's location makes it a potential digital transit hub, reinforcing its influence in the Indo-Pacific.

What are the Challenges to India’s Subsea Cable Infrastructure?

Vulnerability from concentration: A heavy concentration of cable landing sites, with 95% near Mumbai's Versova beach, creates a critical single point of failure.

Chokepoint risks: High reliance on routes through geopolitical chokepoints like the Red Sea and the Malacca Strait makes connectivity vulnerable to conflicts and accidents.

Delayed repairs: India lacks indigenous repair vessels and depends on foreign-flagged ships, leading to delays for repairs due to slow permit processes and security clearances.

Aging infrastructure: Many older cable systems are approaching the end of their operational lifespans, creating a capacity gap that needs timely investment to replace and upgrade.

Physical damage risks: Fishing trawlers and anchor dragging causing frequent and accidental damage to cables.

Geopolitical threats: Undersea cables are susceptible to state-sponsored espionage or sabotage, especially in regions with heightened geopolitical tensions.

Lack of domestic capability: India has a limited indigenous capacity for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) and cable laying, dependent on foreign resources.

How Can India Enhance Subsea Cable Resilience?

Decentralize landing stations: Shift new cable landing stations (CLS) away from current hubs in Mumbai and Chennai to reduce single-point-of-failure risk.

Acquire Indian repair vessels: Expedite the acquisition of Indian-flagged cable repair ships to reduce reliance on foreign operators and cut repair times.

Enhance Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA): Increase underwater surveillance using indigenous drones and sensor networks to monitor and protect critical cable routes from sabotage.

Classify as critical infrastructure: Designate subsea cables and landing stations as "Critical Information Infrastructure" for enhanced legal protection and coordinated security.

Create cable protection zones: Establish designated offshore zones prohibiting high-risk activities like anchoring and fishing to reduce accidental damage.

Modernize monitoring: Utilize AI and predictive analytics for real-time fault detection and continuous monitoring to minimize downtime.

Build alliances: Engage with trusted global partners through forums like the Quad to secure international cable routes and share threat intelligence.

Source: THEHINDU

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. Differentiate between submarine cables and satellite internet in terms of their significance for high-speed connectivity. 150 words

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A landing station is the onshore facility where an undersea cable terminates and connects to the terrestrial network.

Light pulses travel much faster through optical fibre than a signal takes to travel to a satellite in orbit and back.

They are armoured with layers of plastic, steel, and copper to withstand deep-sea pressure and are buried in shallower waters to protect them from anchors and fishing trawlers.