Undersea internet and data cables in the Strait of Hormuz could be the next casualty of the Iran conflict.
Iranian media reported in recent weeks that the country would soon apply pressure in this regard and on May 9 Iran's military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari said the government would “impose fees on internet cables”.
According to maritime insight and data provider Windward, this declaration has prompted Alcatel Submarine Networks to pause all regional repair operations. France-based Alcatel is one of the world's largest installers of undersea cables.
“With Red Sea cables already degraded, this pause in the Gulf threatens the primary remaining data link between Europe and Asia … any new faults could now become permanent,” Windward said on X.
Alcatel has not yet responded to The National's requests for comment.
The International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), a coalition raising awareness of the importance of undersea cable protection, said the Strait of Hormuz was “important for regional connectivity … supporting communications for countries in the region and connecting those countries to wider international networks”.
John Wrottesley, ICPC operations manager said some media reports were overstating the impact the Strait of Hormuz could have on global internet connectivity.
“According to industry analysis by Telegeography, bandwidth traversing the Strait of Hormuz accounts for less than 1 per cent of international bandwidth globally,” a document provided by Mr Wrottesley read.
ICPC says there five active submarine cable system segments in the vital waterway, “with additional planned systems currently under development”.
That said, Mr Wrottesley pointed out that regional internet and data concerns related to undersea cables stemming from the situation in the Strait of Hormuz are valid, though it might take some time for those worries to come to fruition.
“Submarine cable networks are designed with resilience and redundancy as core operational principles,” he said. “The region is also supported by terrestrial connectivity”.
A recent incident shows how quickly things can spiral out of control. Internet services slowed to a crawl in parts of the Middle East, India and Pakistan last year after cables in the Red Sea were severed.
Experts said it was probably an accident but the effect on internet speeds gave renewed focus to how much the world depends on undersea cables.
“Fibre-optic cables transmit voice and data traffic with higher reliability and security at a cheaper rate than satellite,” ICPC explains on its website.
“While a satellite call must travel 35,784km from the Earth and the same distance back, a transpacific fibre-optic call need only travel about 8,050km point-to-point.”
When an incident does occur, repairs often take time. Even when there is a lull in geopolitical friction, repairs to those cables can often take weeks.
If Iran follows through on its promise to impose fees, repairs are expected to take much longer.
