Looking At The Internet: Undersea Cables Connecting The World

The whole world today is connected to the internet. Most of the information is provided by optical fibres. These are buried deep and help to connect all the corners of the planet. All the wires are marked by Washington research firm Telegeography. The submarine cable map, created in 2014 shows all the wires connecting the different parts of the world.

Submarine cables are used for 99 percent of the communications through the internet. Contrary to the popular belief that satellites carry most of the data, its the cables which do that. Satellites are mainly used for broadcasting. Cables are advantageous because they are able to carry large amounts of data. In comparison, satellites have a limited capacity and are quite expensive.

Although cables were the chief sources of data transfer when the internet started, some remote areas, mainly the eastern coast of Africa, still used only the help of satellites for communication. Attempts are going on to make the world fully connected using a fiber network.

Even though the whole world is connected through these cables, precautions have to be taken in laying them. Many cables are required for each path, as there are chances that a few of them break. The paths of these cables should avoid the undersea fault zones. The cables should land in certain countries, skipping a few countries, depending on the requirement.

Even though the cable is underwater, there are still chances for damages. Most of these are caused by human activities such as fishing and anchors from the ships. Natural happenings such as earthquakes and typhoons also cause faults in the cables. The problem of a fault can cause damage to a countrys internet connection. For small-sized populations, this is more of a problem because there are only one or two cables connecting them, Most populous countries have multiple paths for their cables.

Thecable network is still growing. Across the Atlantic, just 13 cables are in service. Only 20 percent of the capacity is currently in service, which is due to the increasing capacity of each cable with an improvement in technology. The bit rates are enhanced by adding new wavelengths to send the data.

Not all cables have the same capacity. The capacity of each cable depends on the market. The cables in the Atlantic have a higher capacity than the ones in Africa. Cables are designed to last for at least 25 years and the incremental buying capacity is quite less, so the cables can be upgraded according to the demands.

The cost of installation depends on various factors.Cables connecting many locations cost higher than those connecting just two points. The cost also depends on the length of cable that is on the ground. For instance, one cable in Asia, which connects multiple locations costs around $400 mn.

Apart from few remote regions, almost the whole world is connected through these cables. However, adding more cables using different routes is the next step. In areas like Europe, America and Asia, its done, but for Africa and some small islands, this needs to be done. Cables have become the reliable way to access the internet and having a cable out of service is unacceptable. The goal of these cables is that each country can make sure that everyone can use high quality internet and they dont have to think about faults in these cables.

New cables that are going to connect the world include ones between US and South America, India and Malaysia and also UK and Japan. These are set to be complete till 2016.

The maps, which are given byTelegeography are quite a reliable source of the information about cable locations. These contain all the major cables under the sea, although smaller cables may have been left out.