This is how the world connects

This is how the world connects

In three years more than 300,000 kilometers of submarine cable will have been deployed

    In the era of Wi-Fi, bluetooth, 4G or even 5G, under the world's waters, an immense network of cables that could go around the world continues to be woven. A fabric that began its deployment in 1866 to provide data communication through telegraphs.

At the end of the 19th century, hundreds of boats sailed the seas and oceans, during their voyage, to 'pick up' thousands of kilometers. A work that has not changed in anything with the passage of time. Seated on the seabed, the cables are prepared to withstand marine animals, ship anchors or strong ocean currents.

   A connection that connects continents and that are capable of transmitting about 3,840 gigabits per second in each fiber optic thread. "The length of submarine cables deployed in 2017 has been unmatched with that of any other year since the previous market boom in 2004, when 74,000 kilometers of fiber were deployed," says the DE-CIX company.

The development rate of submarine cables could accelerate even more during the next three years, when it is expected that there will be up to 74 systems with more than 300,000 kilometers in length, for which an investment worth an estimated 8,800 million dollars is expected. the main submarine routes.

Thanks to Submarine Cable Map and TeleGeography's research work you can see the deployment of submarine cables on the world seabed. An interactive map in which you can also check the date on which the cable was installed and the company that belongs.

The Iberian Peninsula is surrounded by a dozen submarine cables that originate from the south and connect peninsular Spain with the islands, either with the Balearic Islands or the Canary Islands. Although there are also others that unite Spain with the south of the Old Continent and the Middle East.

In the last part of 2017, several important cables were added to exchange data between different parts of the world. One of the most important and that has Spain as one of its stations is the Microsoft, Facebook and Telefónica project that connects the United States and Spain.

Another is Google's FASTER project born to unite the United States and Japan. In addition, Google will deploy three new submarine cables or soon the first direct submarine cable will arrive between Europe and South America.

The study by TeleGeography reveals how the Atlantic is the main motorway of submarine cables. Under the waters of this ocean are hundreds of cables that connect Europe and North America from several locations in New Jersey, on the East Coast of the United States, and reaching mainly the west of the United Kingdom.

The study concludes that, among other aspects, the main hubs such as New York, Frankfurt or Hong Kong will continue to be strategic for the interconnection of networks, since in most cases, the new submarine cable routes will offer diversified routes to reach the existing nodes. However, in other cases this deployment of submarine routes will favor the growth of new hubs, especially those located next to the aggregation points of these cables, such as Marseille or Lisbon.