Wondering how data transmission takes place across continents?

As per the US Naval Institute,

In 2023, there are 552 major seafloor cables in the world with a total length of 850,000 miles. Reliable and cost-effective, they carry more than 95 percent of international data transmissions. Daily, they move financial transactions valued at $10 trillion. Mostly owned by private companies, they are critical elements in the worldwide communications infrastructure. By contrast, satellites carry only 3 percent of global traffic.

Interestingly, do you know how fast was transmission in one of the earliest submarine cables?

When the first submarine cable was installed in 1858, it could take up to 18 hours for a trans-Atlantic transmission to be completed.

The undersea cables account for a substantial amount of traffic:

According to a Department of Homeland Security Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) study, “Commercial undersea cable communications carry over 97 percent of all intercontinental electronic communications.”

Approximately $10 trillion in transactions and limitless information are transmitted through undersea cables in both civilian and government sector assets every day.

According to this article, the top companies owning the undersea cables are:

List of Top Companies in the Submarine Cables Market

• ALE International, ALE USA Inc.

• SubCom, LLC

• NEC Corporation

• Prysmian S.p.A

• Nexans

• Google LLC

• Amazon.com, Inc.

• Microsoft

• NKT A/S

• ZTT

If this sparks your interest to know more about undersea cables (or submarine cables), this blog and this blog provide a lot more detail. And of course, there is Wikipedia, and some geopolitical aspects are covered in this article.

Happy reading!