The Pacific island nation, Tonga, went offline for over a month earlier this year, after a tsunami snapped the submarine cables. What are undersea fiber cables? Why are they critical to connectivity?
The transmission quality of a submarine cable is significantly better than the one offered through the satellite. Submarine cables are only a few inches thick and they carry only a few optical fibres. Yet they have transmission capacities of the order of terabits per second (Tbps). These under sea cables provide vital international telecommunication links between countries across the world and there is no effective substitute available.
In August 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 2,300-kilometre-long submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Andaman & Nicobar Islands to the mainland. This has brought high-speed broadband connectivity to the islands. These cables terminate in the country through cable landing stations. Access to submarine cable landing stations is an essential input for telecommunication services including broadband requiring international connectivity.
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