Panel 3 – Innovations in Submarine Cable Technology and Maintenance & Panel 4 – Legal and Regulatory Frameworks for Cable Protection

Summary

This panel discussion focused on innovation in submarine cable technology and strategies to improve resilience and fault reduction. Experts highlighted the remarkable progress in cable capacity over the past 30 years, with current systems approaching petabit-level capacities. However, they noted that further capacity increases face fundamental limits, leading the industry to explore parallel approaches like adding more fibers and repeaters. The potential of AI and machine learning for improving cable resilience was discussed, particularly in areas like route planning, data analysis, and damage detection. Panelists emphasized the importance of collaboration between governments, academia, and industry to promote innovation and develop legal frameworks that enhance resilience. The unique challenges faced by small island states were addressed, with suggestions for diversifying infrastructure and implementing satellite backups. The integration of sensing technologies, such as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), was highlighted as a promising development for monitoring cables and detecting threats. Panelists also discussed the need to balance submarine cable deployment with other seabed uses like offshore wind farms. The potential of extracting environmental data from submarine cable transmission systems was presented as a cost-effective approach to improving resilience. Funding for these innovations was debated, with suggestions that both cable owners and governments may need to invest based on the broader societal benefits. Overall, the discussion underscored the rapid pace of innovation in submarine cable technology and the ongoing need for collaboration to address challenges and improve global connectivity.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– Innovations in submarine cable technology, including petabit-level capacities and sensing capabilities

– The role of AI and machine learning in improving submarine cable resilience

– Collaboration between governments, academia, and industry to promote innovation

– Unique challenges faced by small island states regarding submarine cable connectivity

– Policy measures and financing to drive innovation and resilience in submarine infrastructure

Overall purpose:

The goal of this panel discussion was to explore recent and upcoming innovations in submarine cable technology, with a focus on how these advancements can improve the resilience and reliability of undersea communication networks. The panelists aimed to highlight the importance of collaboration between various stakeholders and discuss potential solutions to challenges in the industry.

Tone:

The overall tone of the discussion was informative and forward-looking. The panelists spoke with enthusiasm about technological advancements while maintaining a realistic perspective on challenges. There was a sense of optimism about the potential for innovation to address current issues, balanced with pragmatic considerations about implementation and funding. The tone remained consistent throughout, with panelists building on each other’s points in a collaborative manner.

Speakers

– Andy Palmer-Felgate: Moderator, responsible for marine engineering and route planning of submarine cable systems at META, acting president of the North American Submarine Cable Association, director and executive committee member of the International Submarine Cable Protection Committee

– Sandra Maximiano: Chairwoman of ANACOM’s Board of Directors, Professor of Economics at ISEG School

– Sigurd Zhang: EVP of HMN Tech (formerly Huawei Marine), engaged in optical communication industry for over 25 years

– Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed: Head of Submarine Cable Infrastructure at Comoros Cable, PhD in Physics and Applications

– Eduardo Mateo: Director at NEC, Head of Technology and Strategy and Network Architecture at the Submarine Network Division in Tokyo

Additional speakers:

– Announcer: Introduced the panel and speakers

– Audience: Asked questions during Q&A session

Revised Summary of Submarine Cable Technology Innovation Panel Discussion

Introduction

This panel discussion, moderated by Andy Palmer-Felgate of META, brought together experts from various sectors of the submarine cable industry to explore recent and upcoming innovations in technology, with a focus on improving the resilience and reliability of undersea communication networks. The panelists included Sandra Maximiano from ANACOM, Sigurd Zhang from HMN Tech, Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed from Comoros Cable, and Eduardo Mateo from NEC.

Technological Innovations and Capacity Increases

The discussion highlighted the rapid progress in submarine cable technology, with current systems approaching petabit-level capacities, representing a six-order-of-magnitude improvement over the past 30 years. As the industry approaches fundamental limits in capacity increases, there is a shift towards parallel solutions, such as adding more fibres to cables. This shift raises questions about the optimal size for future submarine cables, balancing increased capacity with practical considerations like repair complexity.

Role of AI and Machine Learning

Sigurd Zhang provided insights on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in the submarine cable industry. While AI cannot physically build cables or ships, it can significantly improve efficiency in planning, data analysis, and other software-related tasks. This aligns with the industry’s need for more efficient processes as the demand for cable capacity continues to grow, particularly driven by the ongoing AI revolution.

Sensing Technologies and Environmental Monitoring

A significant portion of the discussion focused on fiber sensing technologies for improving cable resilience and environmental monitoring. Eduardo Mateo explained different types of sensing technologies, including Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), phase forwarding, and state of polarization, discussing their pros and cons. He also introduced an innovative approach to using existing cable infrastructure for environmental monitoring by analyzing transmission line cards and transponders.

The potential use of AI in analyzing data from submarine cables for environmental monitoring was highlighted, suggesting that environmental data could be extracted from submarine cables. This multifunctional potential could add value beyond communication, potentially impacting funding and deployment decisions. The discussion also touched on the use of submarine cables for scientific purposes, such as detecting underwater volcanoes.

Collaboration and Policy Considerations

The panelists emphasized the crucial role of collaboration between governments, academia, and industry in promoting innovation and developing legal frameworks to enhance resilience. Sandra Maximiano highlighted the importance of multi-stakeholder forums for aligning incentives and the key role of governments in setting rules and recognizing cables as critical infrastructure.

The discussion also addressed the need for improved communication between industries and governments, particularly in light of increasing human activities in shallow seabed areas causing more cable damage. The importance of international regulations for cross-border seabed issues was stressed, especially considering the coexistence of submarine cables with other seabed uses like offshore wind farms.

Challenges for Small Island States

Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed brought attention to the unique challenges faced by small island states regarding submarine cable connectivity. He emphasized the need for diversification of infrastructure beyond just submarine cables, suggesting the importance of multiple landing points, satellite backup links, and internet exchange points. Regular preventive maintenance, monitoring, and specific policy frameworks for island states were also highlighted as crucial for protecting cable resilience in these regions.

Funding and Implementation

While the potential benefits of innovations like sensing technologies were clear, questions remained about who would bear the costs. Suggestions included limiting sensing capabilities to the first repeater initially to assess value before further investment, and the potential for government subsidies given the broader societal benefits of improved submarine cable resilience.

Industry Developments and Future Directions

The panel briefly discussed the upcoming Suboptic 2025 Conference as an important event for the industry. The potential role of the ITU in standardizing open cable metrics for submarine systems was also mentioned. Additionally, the importance of streamlining permit processes for cable repairs was highlighted as a key area for improvement.

Conclusion

The discussion underscored the rapid pace of innovation in submarine cable technology and the ongoing need for collaboration to address challenges and improve global connectivity. While there was general consensus on the importance of technological advancements and multi-stakeholder cooperation, differences emerged in approaches to increasing cable capacity, resilience strategies for small island states, and the implementation and funding of new technologies. The panel highlighted several unresolved issues, providing fertile ground for future discussions and research in the field of submarine cable technology and resilience.

Announcer: start with panel three. I’d like to specially acknowledge the presence of Professor Sandra Maximiano, the chair of ANACOM Portugal. Thank you, ma’am, for joining us today. And to all our special guests, our dignitaries, delegates, and participants from all across the world, thank you for joining us today. And to our summit sponsors, we appreciate you, particularly the National Communications Commission, NCC, for hosting the gala night yesterday. So the summit yesterday highlighted on issues on the current state of submarine cable resilience, disruption rate, response time, and repair. Today we’ll be taking the conversation further by starting with submarine cable technology and maintenance. Our moderator for panel three is Andy Palmer-Felgate. Andy, I’d like to invite you to please take your seat while I read your citation. Andy Palmer-Felgate is responsible for marine engineering and route planning of submarine cable systems at META and serves as the acting president of the North American Submarine Cable Association. Andy is also a director and executive committee member of the International Submarine Cable Protection Committee. Let’s warmly welcome Andy as he takes his seat and he proceeds with panel three. Thank you so much.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Thank you, good morning everyone. I’d like to invite our panelists to come up to the stage please and I’ll introduce them in turn. Okay, could all the panelists come and sit on the stage and then once seated I’ll do the introductions. Thank you. Okay, so first up Professor Sandra Maximiano, Chairwoman of the… Okay, is that working? Yeah, good. All right, take two. Professor Sandra Maximiano, Chairwoman of ANACOM’s Board of Directors since 15th of December 2023. She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Amsterdam. She’s an Associate Professor of Economics at ISEG School… All right. She is coordinator of XLAB, Behavioral Research Lab and of the Master’s Degree in Economic Program. She’s also a visiting Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Coimbra. Next I have Dr. Eduardo Mateo, he is a Director at NEC and Head of Technology and Strategy and Network Architecture at the Submarine Network Division in Tokyo. Currently he serves in the Scientific Committee Chair of the Suboptic 2025 Conference and he is an Executive Committee Member of the Suboptic Organization. Mr. Sigurd Zhang is an EVP of HMN Tech which was originally Huawei Marine. After a postgraduate from Harbin Institute Technology, he joined Huawei Optical Product Line and startup Huawei Marine in the year of 2008. Sigurd engaged in the optical communication industry for more than 25 years and led the R&D of submarine transmission systems and smart cities. Lastly, Dr. Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed , he has a PhD in Physics and Applications, he is the Head of Submarine Cable Infrastructure at Comoros Cable. He’s been working in the field of submarine cables for more than eight years and he is also the national focal point for the protection and resilience of submarine cables of the IOC, that’s the Indian Ocean Commission and East African states. So welcome again to all our panelists, please give them a quick round of applause. So the topic of this panel is innovation in submarine technology and fault reduction and our industry has a long history here. If we go back to the year 1850 when the first cable was laid between the UK and France, it only worked for a few days before being damaged by a fishing vessel. So we’ve been learning the hard way for about 175 years, both protecting our cables better and also improving levels of capacity and we’re now seeing our cables are able to become smarter and more aware of their environment. So we’re going to explore some of these subjects. My first question is for Dr. Eduardo Mateo, what technologies are on the horizon for next generation petabit level capacities and what are the implications in resilience, reliability, repair complexity and robustness against cable faults?

Eduardo Mateo: Hello, good morning everybody. Thank you Andy for the introduction. So let’s talk a bit about technology. Nobody panic, stay please. I would like to start with some important facts. I mean, as Andy just mentioned, the first transatlantic system, optical system that the industry built had a capacity of 280 megabit per second. Today as we speak, actually my colleagues are testing a transatlantic system that carries 500 terabit per second. That’s half petabit capacity. That’s six orders of magnitude improvement in 30 years. Now for some people that may not look a lot, but to put this in perspective, I did some math yesterday, jet lag you know, and if we had six orders of magnitude improvement in fuel efficiency, okay, from 30 years, a car today should be able to drive on a single tank all the way to Jupiter. That’s the meaning of six orders of magnitude. So I think as a community we should be very proud of what we have accomplished because these six orders of magnitude are the foundation of the information society that we have today. So Andy asked about what is in the horizon. Well we have done a tremendous job and right now as of today we have been able to squeeze the maximum capacity that we can get over a single piece of bandwidth and on a single amount of noise. So that’s so called channel limit. We are facing kind of fundamental limits. So to solve that problem the industry has went, has gone parallel. What we have done is to add more fibers, to add more repeaters, and in that scenario we are now facing the same issues as the energy industry and other type of industry. Improvements now will be marginal. It’s very difficult to increase capacity on a power efficient way. So we have now capacities that can reach the petabit level. We think one petabit capacity, two petabit capacity will probably make sense with second-generation SDM technologies in some routes. But the industry also will need to identify what is the right size for a submarine cable. Does it make sense to continue to grow capacity? Can we make cable bigger? Does it make sense to make them bigger? What are the implications on that to resilience? We can see what happened in other industry. We can make very big airplanes, but for some reason the industry decided there is a right amount, there’s a right size for airplanes. I think the same thing will happen to submarine cables. So beyond a certain capacity, repair complexity could be a major problem. Can we splice hundreds of fibers in the middle of the ocean, especially if the weather is not so friendly? Can we use exotic fibers, hollow core fibers? Maybe they bring some benefit, but how easy is to repair them? What happens with water in grass? There is air inside a hollow core fiber. These are important things. Now another aspect about size of cables. Can we give up the so-called single end feeding situation, meaning that to increase capacity, can we deal with a shunt fault and traffic interruption? Probably not. So these are important things to consider when we think about technologies to grow capacity. So in summary, I think there is no disruptive technology in the horizon. Intelligence will be marginal in terms of capacity per dollar, per unit of watt, and the industry will find an optimal cable size. But capacity will grow. Demand is there. We have an artificial intelligence revolution around the corner. We will need more cables. We will need more cables. And despite our best efforts in this advisory body, as long as we all like to eat wild fish, there will be cuts. We will do our best to reduce them. But as long as we like tuna sashimi, there will be cuts. So we need to be ready. We need to be ready to deploy more cables. We need to be ready to repair them. So I think my main message to public and private sectors is we need a new fleet. We need more vessels, vessels that are efficient, to lay more cables, and to repair them. We have an AI revolution around the corner. AI models will be trained heavily in places where the energy is cheap, and these models will need to be pushed to inference locations all around the world. So now, submarine systems are essential for getting people connected. But tomorrow, they will be essential for any industry to be competitive. So that’s what I see in the horizon.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Thank you, Eduardo. That was fascinating. And you touched on it, how the AI revolution is really driving a lot of this demand for capacity. But let’s think about AI for a moment. What could AI, machine learning, and real-time analytics do for submarine cable resilience? And what might those technologies have wider impacts on within our industry? I’d like to pose that question to Mr. Sigurd Zhang, please.

Sigurd Zhang: OK, thank you. Nice to be here, and I’m happy to talk the hottest topic about AI, how AI is driving submarine better and resilience. Just one small knowledge before, that most popularly open, fully open deep-seek Chinese software actually is not well-recognized or appraisal in any Chinese. The first two important CEO appraisal for deep-seek is Tim Cook from Apple and Pichai from Google. So then globally, we all know that this is very good. We call fully open AI or profit AI, make everyone or every country can easily deploy the AI capability to improve the unity or personal efficiency and capability. But we know that AI has the limitations, AI cannot build a ship, and AI cannot build a cable for us, but AI can indeed improving all the software works, which means that improving efficiency about planning, data analysis, or capabilizing, something like that. I think that we have made some very briefly research for that. I think that the DAS technology, which is very promising, I think in one or two years we’ll be using for the cable damage findings and repairing improvement for efficiency will be the main important using about AI to do that. The other one is possibly we think that the route planning for submarine cables, typically right now we have lots of data base and we need to make communication and also need communication with different government countries, but if that is AI technology or well has been using in the industry for that, I believe that we are improving the efficiency about whole submarine industries. But for the resilience, I think that it will be important for AI to use in the soft technology. For hard technology, I think that AI can do a limit or we need better AI in the future. That’s my comments. Andy.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Thank you very much. As we all know, governments play a pivotal role in all of this, so I’d like to come on to Sandra next to ask, what does collaboration between governments, academia, and industry look like to promote innovation?

Sandra Maximiano: Can you hear? Yes, I think. Is it working? Yeah. Okay. So first of all, it’s extremely important, we have been talking about collaboration all the time here, collaboration, coordination, information and knowledge sharing. So it’s extremely important and to have a multi-stakeholder forums like these. And when we talk about collaboration between governments, academia, industry, in submarine networks, we are addressing multiple aspects. So in this sense, we can highlight, for instance, collaboration for developing a legal and regulatory framework that enhances resilience, so an important aspect, defining measures to mitigate risks and strengthen security, and sharing information which enables a swift and effective response to security incidents that may arrive. And I must say that the working groups that we form touch on this aspect. And we need to be aware that this is a multi-stakeholder, innovation is not easy, as each organization understands. I say organizations, governmental agencies, they want to maximize social surplus, and my apologies if I’m now talking as an economist, private companies naturally and well done, they want to maximize profits, and academics want to publish scientific articles. So very often it’s very difficult to align different incentives. So we need to find a collaboration that is a win-win, so that aligns incentives and makes the collaboration, as I said, a win-win situation. And I think resilience is a good, resilience security is a good point and aspect that can actually make all of us align incentives. So governments, with the technical support of regulators, they play a key role, setting the rules and policies that govern infrastructure deployment and investment, including the streamlining permits and ensuring international connectivity. They also play a very critical role, recognizing submarine cables as critical infrastructure, and that’s still not yet done in all countries equally, so that is a very important role here for government. Regulators, of course, they play a very important role, and I can give an example, like through sandbox to testing innovative solutions, including those related to connectivity, and AI is also a good example of that. And academia contributes through research and innovation, and of course nowadays top universities also offer, also top PhD programs on submarine, related to submarine cables. So this is, and connectivity in general, so this is really, really important. Industry, in turn, with proper incentives, ensure that networks are built, maintained, and continuously improved. So I think research also should be encouraged through partnerships, of course, with industry, regulators, government, and so that’s extremely important. So we see some innovation and technology developments that were brought by academics, so AI is also a good example of it, and with benefits. for the industry. So I think, as I said, we really need to foster an ecosystem that balances connectivity, security, and innovation. So all these three aspects, they need the work of everyone, and we need to facilitate discussions among key stakeholders to ensure the establishing of global standards, particularly, this is another example, ITU standardization sector that also calls for the collaboration of everyone. And let me just say, like, at a national level, like in Portugal, we are very aware of the importance of this collaboration. Of this collaboration, we also play an important role in European organizations, and BEREC, and bringing also these issues of submarine cable resilience to BEREC, to the group of European regulators, and ITU, and of course, the advisory bodies, and our commitment to the advisory body is an example of that. So we are trying, as regulators, just not to stay in our own shell, and of course, fostering this collaboration. But I must say that this is an example that multi-stakeholder collaboration worldwide is possible, but there is a lot to do inside, in our own countries, because it’s very difficult sometimes to bring everyone to talk, and different organizations, as I said, with different incentives to work in coordination and cooperation. So I think it’s extremely, extremely important that we all do that when we go back to our own countries.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Thank you, Sandra, that was very insightful. Our next question is for Dr. Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed. I’m gonna ask the question in English, but he’s going to reply in French, so if you can have your headsets at the ready, please. The question is about natural hazards. In some parts of the world, these are the primary cause of cable damage. Elsewhere, less frequent, but they can have catastrophic effects, as we discussed yesterday. So I’d like Dr. Elhad Kassim just to explain some of the academic research which is going on around this subject, and how it can help us to better understand and predict the frequency of these type of underwater events, please.

Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed: Okay, thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I’m going to do my intervention in French, so that I’m comfortable. I’m going to do my intervention in French, so that I’m comfortable. I’m going to do my intervention in French. I’m going to do my intervention in French, and I’m going to do my intervention in English. I’m going to do my intervention in French, and I’m going to do my intervention in English. I’m going to do my intervention in French, and I’m going to do my intervention in English. I’m going to do my intervention in French, and I’m going to do my intervention in English. I’m going to do my intervention in French, and I’m going to do my intervention in English. I’m going to do my intervention in French, and I’m going to do my intervention in English.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Thank you very much. And that reminded me, as you were speaking, of the fact that we know far more about the surface of Mars than we do about the deep ocean, so it’s a fascinating problem to deal with. And of course, we need more data, we need more information, and that’s not always easy to collect underwater.

Sandra Maximiano: So my next question is for Sandra. How can the integration of sensing facilities contribute to subsea infrastructure resilience? So let me first answer in a more broad way about technology and how technology can actually contribute to infrastructure resilience. When I was listening about eating tuna and how much we liked eating tuna, of course we want to improve the strength of these cables and not become them, you know, like fish-proof damage or something like that, but then we may get into trouble that we may damage the teeth of the fish, and then some other issues will come. But it’s always like this advantage and disadvantage of technology that we have to deal with. And when we are talking about sensing facilities, and we’re also mentioning here the smart cables, there’s no doubt that sensor-based monitoring makes it easier to detect issues before they escalate, reducing downtime, this is for repairing and acting in that sense, so it’s important also to act as a warning system, alerting authorities to potential threats like natural disasters, so that is important. But of course, like AI, there are also other problems that we have to take into account, and so we have to properly treat the data, and there are some challenges that we face with this sensor-based monitoring. But that doesn’t mean that we fear technology, because technology is here to help us, and as you mentioned, it can help in this case to build resilience. Let me tell you just about our flagship submarine cable project, connecting the source, Madeira, and mainland Portugal. This cable is called the CamRing, and will span a total length of 4,000 kilometers. It’s estimated to be in service 2026 or 2027 maximum. It’s going to replace… an old cable that is in operation since 1999, and this cam ring is going to be essential for ensuring territorial continuity and cohesion, including digital integration by, of course, increasing capacity and redundancy of the network, aiming to reduce interconnection prices, but also having some sensing capacities to warn about some potential occurrence of natural disasters. They leverage the power and the communication systems within the cables to collect data on critical deep ocean variables, such as temperature, characterize the change climate with improved estimates of ocean heat content and sea level rise as relates to water’s thermal expansion, ocean bottom pressure measures ocean circulation insofar as water flows from areas of high to low pressure, track sea level rise related to melting land ice and improved tsunami early warning via direct real-time measurement of sea surface elevation, and seismic acceleration monitor seabed seismic activity to improve early warning for earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, and this is extremely important for Portugal, and especially in the source area, which is always like with the sort of orange red flag for earthquakes, and we have been having some lately occurring, so these systems became kind of helpful in building resilience related to that. We believe also this solution can contribute to several sustainable development goals, including those related to infrastructure and of course climate action, but as I said, and as we know with AI, we have to be able is to work together, work also through standardization and make sure these technologies work for the best, and I think we have big challenges out there and multi-stakeholder discussion groups, again, will be needed as well for improving these technologies and how we make use and the good use of these technologies.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Thank you. My next question is on small island states. It’s for Mr. Elhad Kassim, so please put your headsets on once again. So small island states, they have unique problems, unique challenges. We saw the example with Tonga quite recently. Elhad is from the Comoros Islands, which also has a unique set of challenges, and I’d like him to explain how these are being addressed. Is it simply a case of building more cables with more landings to provide more redundancy and resilience, or is there more different ways that this challenge can be tackled?

Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed: Thank you very much, Mr. Moderator. This is an important question related to small island states, such as ours, the Comoros Islands, which don’t have a lot of submarine cables to be connected to. As a reminder, the Comoros Islands are four volcanic islands located in the Indian Ocean, at the entrance of the Mozambique Canal, between the island of Madagascar and Tanzania. These islands are connected. Their internet depends heavily on submarine cables. Today, we have two international cables, the cable here in South Africa, and also other domestic cables that connect the four islands of the Comoros Islands to the islands of the Indian Ocean. However, there are some islands that are connected to a cable today, which are islands that are really exposed to risks. So, to deal with the resilience of these small islands, to deal with the damage caused by submarine cables, because you know, especially us in the Indian Ocean, we often face earthquakes, we often face cyclones. I don’t know if you remember, recently, two months ago, in December, there was a devastating cyclone on the island of Mayotte, which allowed the island to be isolated. At some point, we had to use other means of communication. So, the resilience did not have to be limited only to the installation of new submarine cables, but we had to multiply the diversification of infrastructures. If we now install submarine cables, we have to multiply the different landing points. You don’t have to install all the cables in one island. If you have several islands, three or four islands, you still have to have a landing point on each island. You also have to have satellite connections. You know, sometimes you can’t avoid a natural disaster. Now, if all the cables are cut, the islands can be isolated from the world. So, the best thing is to have a backup link. A backup link is true, it’s too expensive for satellites, but at least at the start, you can have a satellite backup link. You also don’t have to isolate the increase in the number of cables you have to install. You have to multiply the installation of cables. You also have to set up the internet exchange point. This also allows you to have local internet in case the cable is cut, but at least you can have local internet between the operators directly. So, among the studies on resilience, we can actually note the survival and preventive maintenance. You always have to have preventive maintenance. You know, we have volcanic states. In general, towards the coast, we have a lot of rocks, which means that the cables are often exposed. So, you always have to have surveillance, to control these cables. The cables don’t have what we call fault lines. If you now see that there are fault lines or some defects, you have to repair them before the cables are completely cut. You also have to carry out some preventive maintenance, which is very important, to monitor the cables. You also have to equip certain zone boats with IES systems, because you still have to recommend to all boats that are in the zone to activate their IES system, which will allow them to know where the underwater cables are connected. And finally, you have to have a policy and regulatory framework for the insular states. As a reminder, since 2022, the states of the Indian Ocean Islands are subject to a framework document, which allows a policy to protect the resilience of the cables of the states of the Indian Ocean. It’s a document that allows to define all the cables connected to the Indian Ocean Islands. It also allows to define the different legislations and sensitize all the stakeholders of the different cables that are connected in the islands. Before I finish my remarks, I wanted to show you how important technology is for underwater cables. Because four or five years ago, on one of the four islands of the Comoros, the Mayotte Islands, there were repeated earthquakes. It was necessary to use the underwater cables by using the DAS system to place sensors and study the seabed. By studying the seabed, they discovered that there was an active volcano that was located 50 km away. This shows how important it is to have these cables and to use them in a scientific way to define and protect our islands that are facing climate change today. The smart cable that the lady mentioned is among the very important cables for our islands, which will allow us not only to have connectivity, but also to monitor our seabed and face climate change. Thank you very much.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Thank you. The next question is about another change in our oceans. You described climate change, but we’re also seeing a huge amount of other uses of the seabed, in particular with offshore wind. We’re seeing a lot of offshore wind farms coming to various shallow seas globally. My question is for Mr. Zhang. What can we do to ensure that we’re coexisting with these other new uses of the seabed, and how do we ensure continued resilience?

Sigurd Zhang: It’s a very tough question, Andy. As we know that for shallow seabed, the application of fish farming and also wind farms is very popular. I think it’s the most popular technology or scenario for submarine cable industry we’re meeting. And always with the human activities increasing in the shallow seabed, there will be damage to the submarine cable. fiber cable systems will be increasing dramatically. And also that, just we had discussed these sections and the three key technologies in innovation in the future for submarine. I think it’s the optical technology for the capacity, which is not, is obviously these questions. The second one is air driving for industry running, and also that for new technology for improving the government communication and transparency. I think that improving the transparency and communication effect between different industries, governments, and different countries will be very important and very basic for the more and more activities in the shallow seabed activities across in different countries. And also that different countries belong to different interest unities. And I think that the first one is the more understanding about each others across the industries will be very necessary and important for this kind of conflict. And also some regulations dominated by the governments to make some preparations for this kind of conflict or damage will be very useful for every countries. Sometimes for the seabed crossing the different countries or different sea, I believe that we should more and more involvement and discussion between the countries by the international regulations and support. That’s my very briefly and quick answer to your tough questions, Andy.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Thank you very much. So we have time now for one more question from me, and then I’ll open it up to the floor. My question is for Eduardo on policy measures. So what policy measures could help to drive innovation, and what could these innovation policy make for resilience?

Eduardo Mateo: Okay, so policies is a difficult, hello? I have sabotage here. No, I don’t think it’s the microphone. I think somebody is fixing something. Anyway, so technical innovations about resilience aside for, is that an essential fix? Aside for the, of course, the ICPC recommendations for route engineering and armoring distribution, which have been around for many years, there has been a lot of discussion lately on sensing technologies, particularly fiber sensing technologies and what they can bring to the table in the context of cable resilience. So our industry has been very active in this matter. There are working groups in suboptic. There are working groups in ICPC as well, trying to discuss these technologies and the potential on cable resilience, identifying risks, identifying threats. I have the privilege to be the chair of the scientific committee for this conference, our industry conference this year, suboptic. And I have seen a remarkable amount of papers and submissions dealing with sensing, extremely innovative from academia, from industry. We see also some action on some startups and companies providing solutions using the fibers of the telecom systems to potentially detect threats and deal with them. Let me use this opportunity to, of course, invite you all to attend suboptic if you can. We have the privilege to have Professor Maximiano as one of the keynote speakers. So I think it will be a great conference in beautiful Lisbon. And sensing, fiber sensing in particular, will be a hot topic there. There are many flavors of fiber sensing. You have DAS, you have phase forwarding, state of polarization, hybrids. All of them has pros and cons. Some of them have limited reach, but very high sensitivity. You can pretty much detect everything what’s going on, including identifying the signature of propellers for different chips. So it’s amazing what they can do. Some other techniques have unlimited reach. You can reach all the way in the submarine line, but limited sensitivity. Some of them require very expensive equipment, very stable, expensive lasers. Some of them require no equipment at all. And that’s the one I would like to mention today. There are ways to extract environmental data from the submarine cable by looking at the transmission line cards, at the transponders, okay? This is courtesy of digital coherent science. So transmission technologies are very sophisticated now. We use every single item in light to encode information. And when we send light to a system that has thousands of kilometers, the environmental changes do many things to our signal, many things. We have to undo these things to recover the ones and zeros. Now that data is typically thrown away because it’s only used for so-called equalization. But what we can do now is not throw that data away, just keep it, analyze it, and from that data understand environmental changes in the cable. And I think that technique could be a really game changer because one of the issues of fiber sensing has been the cost, the cost of interrogators, and the monetization of the applications. So in that sense, I think the ITUT, for example, can play an important role. Another thing, I also have the privilege to participate in the standardization of open cable metrics for submarine system. And I think now the ITUT can also play a role in identifying and defining the specifications of these transponders that, by the way, they are used for transmission, so there is no extra cost, and understanding how this data needs to be processed, and most importantly, to define that this data will be used for the particular purpose that needs to be used. And that will be a very important thing. So of course, this is still in research. We have tremendous amount of data, but I think nobody can deny the potential of AI technologies to make sense of complex and big data. And very important, this will be a global solution. Every single landing station has tens of transceivers, multiple wavelengths, multiple fiber pairs. The amount of data will be tremendous. I am optimistic that we can make sense of this data and provide useful environmental data, and perhaps improvements in cable resilience. Thanks.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Thank you. I think it’s been clear that the pace of innovation is getting faster and faster, and this has been really well supported by the longstanding partnership between government and industry to help us achieve this. Are there any questions now from the floor? Yes, Simon.

Audience: Thank you. Fascinating panel, Andy. I just wanted to touch mainly on what has just been said by Mr. Matteo about DAS. Obviously, distributed acoustic survey, I mean, you’ve convinced me, it’s a no-brainer that it will eventually help with resilience of cables. But I just wondered if the panel could say who is going to pay for that? Obviously, you’ve said that for some systems, there’s a high cost. Where’s the money going to come from? Who is going to contribute to the development and who is doing it now to DAS systems and other systems of sensing?

Eduardo Mateo: Well, I think all of us can touch on that. We’re going to spend a lot of money on that. I think all of us can touch on that. We are a system supplier. And the beauty of DAS, of D-A-S, is that it works for any fiber. So we supply the fibers. We supply the fibers for telecommunications applications. Then it would be our customers, cable owners, who will decide whether they want to invest in these interrogators that are put in the landing station to detect D-A-S. Now, D-A-S can reach only to the first repeater. You can do two things. You can just limit your sensing capabilities to the first repeater and see how much value is there on that and to be able to, whether it makes sense or not, to invest. You can actually deploy a dedicated fiber only for D-A-S and maybe bypass the repeater and extend the reach. In terms of who is going to pay, I suppose it will be the cable owner if they find that this data can help them to maybe educate the industry or raise awareness with more data-driven decisions to prevent cables to happen, cuts to happen.

Sandra Maximiano: I can just add something to that. When we are talking about, and more generally, and talking about financing, for instance, telecoms, there is one aspect that is extremely important. Again, sorry for my vision as an economist, but the jargon that I may use, but the thing is we have to be aware of the marginal social benefits that hold these causes. And of course, as the social marginal benefits are higher, and they have a bigger impact cross-sectoral, then we need, of course, more intervention of governmental intervention and through some sort of subsidization, okay? So that’s because, of course, in terms of the individual, the marginal benefits that operators may have, they are smaller than the social marginal benefits, then we should have the intervention of other authorities, like governmental authorities. So that’s one point. But I have no doubt that there are also enough individual marginal benefits for cable operators. There is, of course, now when we are talking about this digital ecosystem, and bringing the big platforms into this discussion as well. So it will be, as I said, it will be a matter of seeing the big impact versus the marginal costs, individual marginal benefits, and social marginal benefits.

Sigurd Zhang: And I’d like to talk something in response to these questions, shall we? Why, shall we? And I think that the question is clear about the cost about this DAS technology. And we have thinking that originally the DAS technology is using for the first segment between the cable learning station about a repeater. But right now, our labs research seeming in the coming one or two years, promising that the DAS could do sensoring almost 1,000 kilometers from cable learning station, very promising with AI technology. The second one, the cost. I’m not sure that the quotations you received, that I think with definitely one million, one or one to two million US dollar will be most possible for the DAS technology in the coming years to be deployed for the hypersensing. The most benefit will be very quick identification about ship damage or anchoring, something like that. We will be very quick passing the AI as I think there will be many levels. We can make alarming for the cable vendors, cable owners to get information that one cable was break or damaged by the anchoring or something like that. And also they have the AI technology can driving the DAS technology can make some warning about the cable itself. So I believe that this among our investment will be very useful for the cable owners, not only for the users and also not only for the science technology. Of course, we know that and just this topic for this summit, the government is very important to be funding some very expensive and difficult technology in earlier, but with the booming about universal AI, I believe that I’m not sure people knows that several millions US dollar, you can deploy full parameters of deep sea AI technology. You can use it, not very expensive. So I believe that the AI will driving from different cultures and different currents, different industries and different currency department. So the questions to you that today is difficult to answer, but I believe the coming year or this year, we will be promising that we can, the cable owners can afford at least cost to using the DAS and AI as technology to get a payment for the cable who damage your cables. That’s my thought. Thank you.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: I think we’ve got time for just one more question. So I’ve seen a hand go up over there, please. I think you can use your microphone on your desk if you just press the button. Maybe it’s not working. Okay. Can we have a microphone taken over to speak?

Audience: Good morning, everyone. John Odde is the name, Universal Science and Technology PhD. Please, I just want to ask these very, very important questions. The first thing is this, if you go from yesterday’s panel session, there was this repeated complaint of, if there’s any issue with cabling or there’s any faults detected, that the process that the cable companies will go through to get permits, they have multiple permits to get before they fix any cables that’s broken. Going forward, bringing technology into the cabling space, I want to ask, we have some academia here, some people in the academia environment. Is there any arrangement or is there any ongoing plan between, say, ITU and governments along the coastal areas in terms of raising funding? Because I heard something about funding. One of the good things that have happened to technology these days is the collaboration between the industry, the government, and the academia. So is there any arrangement for funding? Because it’s going to be a win-win situation, that there’s going to be a collaboration between the cable companies and the academic environment that will help speed up the discovery of new ways of handling these cable issues. So that’s my question. Is there any arrangement of collaboration between the academia and, say, ITU and maybe governments and the cable companies to help speed up these cable issues? Thank you very much.

Sandra Maximiano: So as far as I’m aware, I don’t think there is any formal agreement on that. But I would say that it’s extremely important, and as I mentioned on my intervention before, when we go back home and actually try this collaboration to happen between governments, academia, industry, and regulators, and it’s very important nowadays for regulators being present in multi-stakeholder forums and not to have this vision, and the very traditional vision, of regulators have to be a part or have to be on a side, and because, you know, like capture theory, and taking capture theory too far away, because nowadays we really need to talk. And if you want to make regulation agile, and as you mentioned, the streamlining process of licensing and the different license that we need, the timelines, so we need all to talk. And regulators, of course, need to be, they need to be very aware of advances in technology, because as you mentioned, there is, what is the point if you do all these advances in technology, but then we are still waiting for certain permits to act. So, of course, I think there’s a lot of work that we need to do within our own countries, because it all starts there. And so we have to be, as I can speak as a regulator, we have to be more open to come and participate in stakeholders forums, talk with operators, and understand the importance of regulation that is predictable, that is agile, and that can somehow be, that can, of course, promote innovation, but takes into account security as well. So that’s what we should all do. And that’s why I’m here, that’s also because I believe that what we should do.

Andy Palmer-Felgate: Okay, thank you very much. Sadly, we’re out of time. So please just put your hands together for our excellent speakers.

Agreement points

Importance of innovation in submarine cable technology

Capacity increases of six orders of magnitude over 30 years

DAS technology promising for cable damage detection and repair

Academia contributes through research and innovation

The speakers agree on the critical role of technological innovation in improving submarine cable capacity, resilience, and maintenance.

Need for multi-stakeholder collaboration

Multi-stakeholder forums important for aligning incentives

Need for improved communication between industries and governments

Policy frameworks for island states to protect cable resilience

The speakers emphasize the importance of collaboration between various stakeholders, including governments, industry, and academia, to address challenges in the submarine cable sector.

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers highlight the potential of sensing technologies, particularly DAS, in improving submarine cable resilience and maintenance.

Various fiber sensing technologies being developed and studied

DAS technology promising for cable damage detection and repair

Both speakers emphasize the crucial role of government policies and regulations in protecting submarine cable infrastructure.

Governments play key role in setting rules and recognizing cables as critical infrastructure

Policy frameworks for island states to protect cable resilience

Unexpected consensus

Integration of environmental monitoring with submarine cables

Potential to extract environmental data from existing transmission equipment

Smart cable that the lady mentioned is among the very important cables for our islands, which will allow us not only to have connectivity, but also to monitor our seabed and face climate change

Despite coming from different perspectives (technology development and small island state needs), both speakers recognize the potential of submarine cables for environmental monitoring, which is an unexpected area of agreement.

Overall assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement include the importance of technological innovation, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and the integration of environmental monitoring with submarine cable infrastructure.

Consensus level

There is a moderate to high level of consensus among the speakers on the key challenges and potential solutions in the submarine cable industry. This consensus suggests a shared understanding of the industry’s needs and could facilitate coordinated efforts to improve submarine cable resilience and capacity. However, there are still areas where further discussion and alignment may be needed, particularly regarding funding mechanisms for new technologies and specific policy implementations.

Different viewpoints

Approach to increasing cable capacity

Industry approaching fundamental limits, moving to parallel solutions like more fibers

AI can improve efficiency in planning and data analysis

Eduardo Mateo emphasizes physical solutions like adding more fibers, while Sigurd Zhang focuses on AI-driven improvements in planning and analysis.

Focus of resilience strategies for small island states

Need for diversification of infrastructure beyond just submarine cables

Need to foster ecosystem balancing connectivity, security and innovation

Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed emphasizes diversification of infrastructure, while Sandra Maximiano focuses on a balanced ecosystem approach.

Unexpected differences

Funding for new technologies

Potential to extract environmental data from existing transmission equipment

Industry ensures networks are built and maintained with proper incentives

While both speakers discuss technological advancements, there’s an unexpected difference in their approach to funding. Eduardo Mateo suggests using existing equipment to reduce costs, while Sandra Maximiano emphasizes the need for proper incentives for the industry, potentially implying additional funding requirements.

Overall assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around approaches to increasing cable capacity, resilience strategies for small island states, and the implementation and funding of new technologies.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is moderate. While there are differences in focus and approach, there is a general consensus on the importance of innovation, collaboration, and government involvement in improving submarine cable resilience. These differences in perspective could lead to a more comprehensive approach to addressing the challenges in the submarine cable industry, but may also complicate the process of reaching unified solutions.

Partial agreements

All speakers agree on the importance of new technologies for improving cable resilience, but they differ in their focus. Eduardo Mateo discusses various sensing technologies, Sigurd Zhang emphasizes DAS specifically, while Sandra Maximiano advocates for a balanced approach considering security and innovation.

Various fiber sensing technologies being developed and studied

DAS technology promising for cable damage detection and repair

Need to foster ecosystem balancing connectivity, security and innovation

Both speakers agree on the importance of government involvement in protecting cable resilience, but they differ in their specific approaches. Sandra Maximiano emphasizes general government roles, while Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed focuses on specific policy frameworks for island states.

Governments play key role in setting rules and recognizing cables as critical infrastructure

Policy frameworks for island states to protect cable resilience

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers highlight the potential of sensing technologies, particularly DAS, in improving submarine cable resilience and maintenance.

Various fiber sensing technologies being developed and studied

DAS technology promising for cable damage detection and repair

Both speakers emphasize the crucial role of government policies and regulations in protecting submarine cable infrastructure.

Governments play key role in setting rules and recognizing cables as critical infrastructure

Policy frameworks for island states to protect cable resilience

Key takeaways

Submarine cable technology has seen massive capacity increases but is approaching fundamental limits, driving a shift to parallel solutions like more fibers

AI is driving demand for more cable capacity and could help improve cable resilience through sensing and data analysis

Multi-stakeholder collaboration between government, industry, and academia is crucial for innovation and addressing challenges in submarine cable resilience

Small island states face unique challenges that require diversified infrastructure and policy frameworks to ensure connectivity

New uses of the seabed, like offshore wind farms, create challenges for cable resilience that require improved communication and regulations

Sensing technologies, particularly fiber sensing, show promise for improving cable resilience but raise questions about cost and implementation

Resolutions and action items

Need for a new fleet of efficient vessels to lay and repair more cables

Importance of developing legal and regulatory frameworks to enhance resilience

Suggestion to use AI and DAS technology for quick identification of cable damage

Proposal to extract environmental data from existing transmission equipment to improve resilience

Unresolved issues

Optimal size and capacity for future submarine cables

How to balance increased capacity with repair complexity

Who will pay for the implementation of new sensing technologies like DAS

How to streamline the permitting process for cable repairs

Specific arrangements for funding collaboration between academia, industry, and government

Suggested compromises

Balancing individual operator benefits with broader societal benefits when considering government subsidies for new technologies

Using existing transmission equipment data for environmental monitoring to reduce costs of new sensing technologies

Limiting sensing capabilities to the first repeater initially to assess value before further investment

Today as we speak, actually my colleagues are testing a transatlantic system that carries 500 terabit per second. That’s half petabit capacity. That’s six orders of magnitude improvement in 30 years.

Speaker

Eduardo Mateo

Reason

This comment provides a striking illustration of the rapid technological progress in submarine cable capacity, putting it into perspective in a way that’s easy to grasp.

Impact

It set the stage for discussing future innovations and challenges in submarine cable technology, leading to a deeper exploration of capacity limits and potential trade-offs.

Can we splice hundreds of fibers in the middle of the ocean, especially if the weather is not so friendly? Can we use exotic fibers, hollow core fibers? Maybe they bring some benefit, but how easy is to repair them?

Speaker

Eduardo Mateo

Reason

These questions highlight practical challenges that come with increasing cable capacity and complexity, forcing consideration of real-world implementation issues.

Impact

It shifted the discussion from purely technological advancements to considerations of practicality and maintenance, leading to a more nuanced exploration of future cable designs.

AI cannot build a ship, and AI cannot build a cable for us, but AI can indeed improving all the software works, which means that improving efficiency about planning, data analysis, or capabilizing, something like that.

Speaker

Sigurd Zhang

Reason

This comment provides a balanced perspective on the role of AI in the submarine cable industry, highlighting its potential while also acknowledging its limitations.

Impact

It led to a more focused discussion on specific applications of AI in the industry, particularly in planning and data analysis.

So governments, with the technical support of regulators, they play a key role, setting the rules and policies that govern infrastructure deployment and investment, including the streamlining permits and ensuring international connectivity.

Speaker

Sandra Maximiano

Reason

This comment emphasizes the crucial role of government and regulatory bodies in facilitating innovation and deployment in the submarine cable industry.

Impact

It broadened the discussion beyond technical aspects to include policy and regulatory considerations, highlighting the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration.

You also have to set up the internet exchange point. This also allows you to have local internet in case the cable is cut, but at least you can have local internet between the operators directly.

Speaker

Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed

Reason

This comment introduces a practical solution for improving resilience in small island states, demonstrating how local infrastructure can complement submarine cables.

Impact

It shifted the discussion to consider more holistic approaches to connectivity and resilience, especially for vulnerable regions.

There are ways to extract environmental data from the submarine cable by looking at the transmission line cards, at the transponders, okay? This is courtesy of digital coherent science.

Speaker

Eduardo Mateo

Reason

This comment introduces an innovative approach to using existing cable infrastructure for environmental monitoring, potentially adding value beyond communication.

Impact

It opened up a new avenue of discussion about the multifunctional potential of submarine cables and how this could impact funding and deployment decisions.

Overall assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by broadening its scope from purely technical considerations to include practical implementation challenges, regulatory and policy aspects, and innovative uses of submarine cable technology. They highlighted the need for a multidisciplinary approach to submarine cable resilience and innovation, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between industry, government, and academia. The discussion evolved from focusing on capacity improvements to exploring how these advancements intersect with real-world constraints, environmental monitoring potential, and the unique needs of different regions. This comprehensive exploration underscored the complexity of the submarine cable ecosystem and the need for holistic solutions that balance technological innovation with practical, regulatory, and environmental considerations.

What is the optimal size for submarine cables?

Speaker

Eduardo Mateo

Explanation

As cable capacity increases, there may be a point where further growth becomes impractical due to repair complexity and other factors. Understanding the optimal size is crucial for future cable design and deployment.

How can we improve the efficiency and capabilities of cable repair vessels?

Speaker

Eduardo Mateo

Explanation

With increasing demand for submarine cables, especially due to AI, there is a need for more efficient vessels to lay and repair cables. This is essential for maintaining network resilience.

How can AI and machine learning be applied to improve submarine cable route planning?

Speaker

Sigurd Zhang

Explanation

AI could potentially streamline the complex process of planning cable routes, which involves analyzing large datasets and communicating with multiple governments.

How can we improve collaboration between governments, academia, and industry to promote innovation in submarine cable technology?

Speaker

Sandra Maximiano

Explanation

Better collaboration could lead to more effective legal and regulatory frameworks, risk mitigation measures, and information sharing for incident response.

How can we better understand and predict the frequency of underwater natural hazards that affect submarine cables?

Speaker

Andy Palmer-Felgate (posed to Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed)

Explanation

Improved prediction of natural hazards could help in better cable protection and faster response to potential damages.

How can small island states improve their submarine cable resilience beyond just adding more cables?

Speaker

Elhad Kassim Said Ahmed

Explanation

Small island states face unique challenges and need diverse strategies to ensure connectivity, including satellite backups and local internet exchange points.

How can submarine cable infrastructure coexist with increasing offshore wind farm development?

Speaker

Andy Palmer-Felgate (posed to Sigurd Zhang)

Explanation

As offshore wind farms become more common, ensuring they don’t interfere with submarine cables is crucial for maintaining network resilience.

How can fiber sensing technologies, particularly those using existing transmission equipment, be standardized and implemented to improve cable resilience?

Speaker

Eduardo Mateo

Explanation

These technologies could provide valuable environmental data and improve cable resilience without significant additional cost.

Who will fund the implementation of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and other sensing technologies for submarine cables?

Speaker

Audience member (Simon)

Explanation

Understanding the funding model for these technologies is crucial for their widespread adoption and the improvement of cable resilience.

Is there any arrangement for collaboration between academia, ITU, governments, and cable companies to speed up research and development in submarine cable technology?

Speaker

Audience member (John Odde)

Explanation

Such collaboration could accelerate innovation and help address challenges in the submarine cable industry, particularly in streamlining repair processes.