Welcome to the eighth edition of NetMission news and policy digest, where we transform some tech news and policy updates of the month into a bite-size reader for you. This article introduces the submarine communication cable system and its latest developments in the APAC region.
On January 17, the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership published a policy brief titled “Good Practices for Submarine Communication Cables.” The document builds upon the growing body of evidence regarding the importance of policymakers and regulators using evidence-based approaches to review and revise strategies for submarine communication cables (referred to as “subsea cables” in this article).
Subsea cables are an essential component of the Internet’s physical infrastructure. They are vital in achieving universal, affordable, reliable, and meaningful connectivity. Over the past decade, subsea cables have been central to geopolitical tensions among digital empires. The development of subsea cables in the APAC region has been both benefited and affected by geopolitical conflicts.
Data traffic’s heavy lifters
Subsea cables are critical to global connectivity. They are responsible for more than 95% of international data traffic. As of early 2024, the 574 active and planned subsea cables span around 1.4 million kilometers, allowing people to connect with distant relatives and friends and companies to do business all over the globe.
To highlight the size of the global network, consider that the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite took this picture from a similar distance from Earth.
Subsea cables boost the Internet’s capacity, redundancy, and reliability in ways other technologies, such as satellites, cannot. They are a faster, cheaper, and more reliable communications infrastructure. This does not mean that the adoption of other technologies is undesirable. On the contrary, they should be complementary.
Subsea cables are also indispensable for a thriving digital economy. For instance, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) generates trillions of dollars worth of assets across global financial markets, relying mostly on these cables to transmit messages between bank members. These cables foster innovation, enabling offshore data centers, cloud computing services, and e-commerce platforms to operate seamlessly. In other words, the digital economy could not work without subsea cables.
A geopolitical issue
Over the past decade, subsea cables, especially those connecting the Indo-Pacific region and the Mediterranean Sea, have become increasingly important in global geopolitical conflicts between digital empires. As with other conflict areas, these clashes involve private companies, mainly from China and the United States. The European Union also has a role, although much smaller in comparison.
Since 2015, through The Digital Silk Road (DSR), the technological and cyberspace arm of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Chinese government has successfully positioned itself as a growing influence on the global subsea cable network. In the region, the Asia Direct Cable (ADC) connects China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The ADC has suffered various delays, but works are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.
The Kumul Submarine Cable Network Project (KSCNP) is a 5,457 Km subsea cable system connecting 14 coastal provinces in Papua New Guinea. China’s EXIM Bank mostly financed the KSCNP, while HMN Tech (formerly known as Huawei Marine Network) is the sole supplier for the system.
Part of the Western narrative posits that China seeks to gain influence on national political and economic agendas in exchange for DSR-funded projects. In this sense, a former director of policy planning in the U.S. State Department has argued that the DSR contributes to a broader campaign for an Internet under the control of totalitarian governments rather than an open one driven by liberal values.
The U.S. government (U.S.) usually cites cybersecurity and espionage fears to push and freeze Chinese involvement in the subsea cable market. In early 2022, Chinese-owned companies were forced to withdraw from the SeaMeWe-6 project due to a successful U.S. government campaign to flip the project to a U.S. company. This is one of at least six private undersea cable deals in the Asia Pacific region, where the U.S. has intervened to keep China from growing in the subsea cable market.
Western countries and organizations have also looked with suspicion at China’s strategy. In 2018, Australia ousted Huawei from a project linking Sydney, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In June 2021, the World Bank canceled a cable contract in the Pacific that connected the region with the U.S. over fears Huawei would win the tender. A $95-million deal between Japan, Australia, and the U.S. was subsequently established, with Japan’s NEC Corp. taking the lead in installing the East Micronesia Cable System (EMCS).
Neighboring jurisdictions are also cautious about China’s expansion. In 2022, Australia, New Zealand (and the U.S.) made high-level diplomatic visits to the Solomon Islands to urge its government not to sign a security pact with China. These countries later criticized the signed agreement as it could open the door to a Chinese naval base in the South Pacific. A few months later, 10 Pacific Island Nations declined to sign the China-Pacific Island Countries Common Development Vision pact, citing concerns that the proposal could threaten regional stability. Until today, the pact remains unsigned.
Subsea cables in the region: latest developments
Irrespective of geopolitical tension, the APAC region does have a great need for better connectivity. Due to the many islands, archipelagos, and coastal countries, subsea cables are especially relevant. Many Pacific Islands only have one connection point. The entire Australian communication network depends on the subsea cable system. Creating new cables can help meet the growing demand for 4G, 5G, and broadband access among regional countries. Over $6 billion of new cables are planned to enter service from 2022-2024
Last year, it was reported that China’s top three TELCOS are planning to build a subsea cable to rival the previously mentioned SeaMeWe-6 cable. In turn, Google partnered with several local organizations to connect Fiji, French Polynesia, Australia, and the U.S. Google’s South Pacific Connect initiative also includes the first subsea cables connecting the South American and APAC regions and a subsea cable that connects Fiji, Guam, and French Polynesia.
Last month, Vanuatu’s Prima and Alcatel Submarine Networks announced a project connecting Vanuatu and New Caledonia, extending to Australia and Fiji. Finally, just a few days ago, the ALPHA Consortium announced the signing of a new memorandum of understanding with the telcos Indonesia’s Telin and South Korea’s K.T. Corporation to plan and develop a proposal for an international undersea cable system connecting at least Singapore, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Technologies to enhance connectivity: Low Orbit Satellites
Adopting other technologies is essential to reach meaningful connectivity and help close the digital divide. One important technology to consider is Low Orbit Satellites (LEOs).
LEOs are satellites that orbit the Earth between 160 km and 1000 km above Earth’s surface, much closer compared with MEOs and GEOs. LEOs can connect remote and rural communities in ways subsea cables cannot. For example, Starlink satellites were used in Tonga to connect remote villages that had been cut off from the Internet since a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami in January 2022. Geographically isolated or disaster-affected populations in Bangladesh might also benefit from Starlkink’s LEOs soon.
By Vicente Arias González (Reviewed and edited by Jenna Manhau Fung and Kenneth Leung)