Future looks bright for subsea cables market despite Covid-19

Subsea cables, laid on the seafloor to carry telecommunication signals across ocean and sea, represent the critical internet infrastructure.

Like all other markets the subsea cables market has felt the impact of the ongoing pandemic of Covid-19, which has in the last couple of months reshaped our lives.

99% of the Internet, voice, and data traffic, including backhaul of mobile network traffic and data for credit card and electronic payments is carried by the subsea cables.

According to ICPC, Internet traffic has increased between 25% and 50%, depending on geographic region, since November 2019, and will surely increase further.

The first months of the coronavirus pandemic affected the subsea cables market due to restrictions that prevented ships to conduct repairs and even installation of new cables.

Now that the restrictions are getting looser, the construction of new cables is moving forward to meet the increased demand.

New starts and completions

We have recently seen a couple of new cable projects hitting the start, one of them being CrossChannel Fibre, a 550km cable to be built across the English Channel. The cable, being developed by Crosslake Fibre, will connect Slough, United Kingdom and Paris, France. 

One more project that recently started construction is the submarine cable connecting China (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province), Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The 9,400-kilometre long cable is owned by Asia Direct Cable (ADC) consortium and will be built by NEC Corporation.

Along with new projects, there are numerous cables that have been completed, adding significant capacity to the market, despite the Covid-19.

One of the examples is the most recent Manatua One Polynesia Cable project. The cable laying operations were completed in January, but the pandemic pushed the commissioning and testing of the system for a couple of months.

Now the cable has been fully completed and ready for service.

Another subsea cable project that has been finalized is the Japan-Guam-Australia North Cable System (JGA North). The cable was constructed by RTI and NEC.

JGA North is approximately 2,700 kilometres in length and lands in Minami-Boso, Japan and Piti, Guam.

Increased demand could led to new projects

Due to the pandemic the demand for connectivity has increased with the business environment shifting to online platforms.

A lot of companies have been conducting its business online in the last couple of months, and the subsea cable infrastructure played one of the key roles by helping people connect with each other.

The Covid-19 pandemic can also provide opportunities for new cable projects and new subsea cable routes that could help to meet the connectivity demand.

We are aware that the pandemic is far from over, and the impact on the industries will be huge, but the focus on connectivity in these time sheds a light on bright future for the companies involved in the subsea cables market.