WSIS Forum 2026
Rapport généré par l'IA
ENFR

High Level Dialogue: Strengthening the Resilience of Telecommunication Submarine Cables

9 intervenants
Résumé

Résumé

Cette discussion a porté sur la conclusion des travaux du Conseil consultatif international sur la résilience des câbles sous-marins (International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience ou IAB), une initiative de deux ans co-dirigée par l'UIT et le Comité international de protection des câbles (ICPC), qui a produit un rapport complet de 200 pages de recommandations visant à renforcer la résilience de l'infrastructure mondiale de câbles sous-marins . Les câbles sous-marins transportent environ 99 % du trafic internet international , et le panel a noté qu'entre 150 et 200 pannes surviennent chaque année dans le monde, dont environ 80 % sont causées par des activités maritimes humaines , tandis que le délai moyen de réparation est passé de 20 à plus de 50 jours en raison d'une flotte de navires de réparation vieillissante et insuffisante . Le ministre Bosun Tijani du Nigeria a évoqué les coupures de câbles en Afrique de l'Ouest en 2024 comme élément déclencheur de l'initiative , soulignant que les gouvernements doivent établir des protocoles de coordination clairs plutôt que de laisser la résilience entièrement à la charge des propriétaires de câbles . La Pre Sandra Maximiano du Portugal a mis en lumière trois enseignements tirés de l'expérience portugaise : la géographie crée à la fois des opportunités et des responsabilités, la résilience doit être intégrée dès la conception, et la coopération doit précéder les incidents . Timothy Chin de Singapour a décrit des mesures politiques concrètes, notamment la simplification des procédures d'autorisation, la planification spatiale maritime et une approche de coordination pangouvernementale ayant réduit les délais de réponse aux demandes de réparation de câbles à trois à cinq jours ouvrables . Du point de vue du financement, Sangbu Kim de la Banque mondiale a cité l'éruption volcanique de Tonga en 2022, où les dommages causés à un seul câble ont entraîné 61 jours d'isolement numérique quasi total et ont affecté 39 % du PIB du pays, soulignant la nécessité de traiter l'infrastructure de câbles sous-marins comme un bien public . Athena Jun Xian de China Telecom Europe a noté que l'industrie intègre déjà la résilience dans ses décisions d'investissement, notamment par la diversification des routes et la multiplication des stations d'atterrissement . Les panélistes ont globalement convenu que la priorité la plus urgente est de passer de la documentation à la mise en œuvre , ce qui nécessite des investissements dans les capacités de réparation et l'expertise humaine , une plus grande harmonisation réglementaire entre les juridictions , et une délimitation plus claire des rôles entre les gouvernements, l'industrie et les organisations internationales . La discussion s'est conclue par un consensus selon lequel le rapport de l'IAB constitue une base pratique permettant aux gouvernements et aux parties prenantes du monde entier de renforcer la résilience des câbles sous-marins par une action coordonnée et multipartite .

Points clés

Objectif général

La discussion a porté sur la conclusion des travaux de l'International Advisory Board (IAB) sur la résilience des câbles sous-marins, une initiative multipartite de deux ans co-dirigée par l'UIT et l'ICPC. La séance visait à présenter le rapport final de 200 pages de l'IAB, à célébrer ses réalisations et, surtout, à déplacer l'attention des recommandations politiques vers une mise en œuvre concrète aux niveaux national et international. ---

Principaux points de discussion

- L'importance des câbles sous-marins et l'ampleur du défi de résilience : Les intervenants ont souligné que les câbles sous-marins transportent environ 99 % du trafic internet international, ce qui en fait un pilier fondamental des économies, de la sécurité et des sociétés mondiales. La fragilité de cette infrastructure a été illustrée par des chiffres faisant état d'environ 180 ruptures de câbles en 2025 seulement, dont 80 % des pannes causées par des activités maritimes humaines.

Le cas de Tonga a été cité comme exemple frappant, où les dommages causés à un seul câble ont entraîné 61 jours d'isolement numérique quasi total et ont affecté 39 % du PIB du pays. La situation en matière de réparation se détériore, les délais moyens de réparation passant de 20 à plus de 50 jours en raison d'une flotte vieillissante et insuffisante d'environ 70 navires seulement. - Les travaux de l'IAB et la transition de la prise de conscience à l'action (« du papier à la pratique ») : L'IAB, composé de 42 membres et de 175 experts de groupes de travail, a produit un rapport complet couvrant le déploiement, les pratiques de réparation, la surveillance des risques et la connexion des populations non connectées. Les deux coprésidents ont insisté sur le fait que les travaux de l'organe consultatif doivent désormais être perçus comme une transition de la prise de conscience à l'action, la Pre Sandra Maximiano formulant explicitement cette transition comme un passage « du papier à la pratique ». Le ministre Bosun Tijani a décrit le rapport comme un « chef-d'œuvre » et un « manifeste » que les ministres peuvent utiliser pour mieux se préparer, notant qu'aucun document comparable n'existait lorsque les câbles d'Afrique de l'Ouest ont été coupés en mars 2024. - Les rôles des gouvernements, de l'industrie et des organisations internationales dans le renforcement de la résilience : Un thème récurrent a été que la résilience ne peut être assurée par un seul acteur agissant seul. Les gouvernements ont été invités à établir des protocoles de coordination clairs, à simplifier les procédures d'autorisation et à créer des environnements favorables pour l'industrie - le modèle singapourien d'un point de contact unique pour le déploiement des câbles et d'un délai de réponse de trois à cinq jours ouvrables pour les demandes de réparation a été cité comme bonne pratique. L'industrie a été appelée à continuer d'innover, à renforcer les capacités de réparation et à intégrer la résilience dans les modèles commerciaux dès le départ.

Les organisations internationales telles que l'UIT ont été reconnues pour leur rôle de rassemblement, de sensibilisation et de plaidoyer. - L'investissement, la redondance et la diversité géographique comme priorités structurelles : Plusieurs intervenants ont souligné la nécessité d'investissements soutenus dans le déploiement, la maintenance et les capacités de réparation des câbles, ainsi que dans une plus grande diversité et redondance des routes. Du point de vue industriel, les stratégies d'atténuation des risques comprennent l'évitement des zones à haut risque telles que la mer Rouge et le détroit de Malacca, le développement de routes terrestres alternatives et la conception de systèmes avec plusieurs stations d'atterrissement. La Banque mondiale a souligné l'importance d'intégrer les exigences de résilience dans les modèles de financement dès le départ, en utilisant des mécanismes de dérisquage et des partenariats entre le secteur public et le secteur privé pour attirer les investissements du secteur privé. Le câble Atlantic Cam du Portugal, avec sa topologie en anneau, a été cité comme exemple de résilience intégrée dès la conception. - La mise en œuvre comme prochaine étape déterminante, notamment les cadres juridiques et l'harmonisation réglementaire : Les intervenants ont convergé vers l'idée que la priorité immédiate est la mise en œuvre des recommandations de l'IAB aux niveaux national et international.

Cela nécessite une clarification des rôles et des responsabilités entre les gouvernements, les institutions de financement du développement et les opérateurs privés. Des questions ont été soulevées quant à la suffisance des cadres juridiques existants, notamment un traité de protection des câbles télégraphiques du XIXe siècle, ou à la nécessité d'instruments juridiques internationaux plus contraignants.

La Pre Sandra Maximiano a appelé à une harmonisation réglementaire entre les juridictions pour réduire la fragmentation et la complexité, ainsi qu'à des investissements dans le renforcement des capacités afin de s'assurer que les bonnes personnes sont en place pour gérer les incidents. ---

Ton général

Les intervenants ont offert une discussion constructive, collaborative et assez optimiste. Ils ont constamment exprimé leur fierté face aux réalisations de l'IAB et leur gratitude pour l'effort multipartite ayant abouti au rapport final.

Un sentiment partagé d'élan et de détermination était perceptible, l'atmosphère évoluant progressivement de la célébration des accomplissements vers une urgence tournée vers l'avenir en matière de mise en œuvre. L'aveu du ministre Bosun Tijani selon lequel il était « totalement désorienté » face aux coupures de câbles en Afrique de l'Ouest a apporté une certaine sincérité à l'échange et a ancré la discussion dans des enjeux concrets. À la clôture des débats, le ton était résolument orienté vers l'action, les intervenants réaffirmant à plusieurs reprises que le temps de la documentation était révolu et que le temps des mesures concrètes telles que l'investissement, la coordination, la clarté réglementaire et le renforcement des capacités était venu.

Intervenants

- M. Tomas Lamanauskas - Rôle/Titre : secrétaire général adjoint de l'UIT ; secrétaire exécutif co-responsable de l'IAB - S.E. Dr. Bosun Tijani - Rôle/Titre : ministre des Communications, de l'Innovation et de l'Économie numérique du Nigeria ; coprésident de l'IAB - Domaines d'expertise : politique numérique, résilience des câbles sous-marins, infrastructure nationale critique, gouvernance des télécommunications - Prof. Sandra Maximiano - Rôle/Titre : coprésidente de l'IAB ; affiliée à l'Anacom (régulateur portugais des communications) - Domaines d'expertise : Résilience des câbles sous-marins, cadres réglementaires, connectivité numérique, politique des télécommunications - M. John Wrottesley - Rôle/Titre : directeur général de l'ICPC - Domaines d'expertise : protection des câbles sous-marins, normes et opérations de l'industrie internationale des câbles - M. Timothy Chin - Rôle/Titre : directeur général adjoint de l'IMDA, Singapour - Domaines d'expertise : Politique de connectivité numérique, réglementation des câbles sous-marins, planification spatiale maritime, coordination pangouvernementale - M. Sangbu Kim - Rôle/Titre : vice-président chargé du numérique et de l'IA, Banque mondiale ; responsable du Groupe de travail 3 sur la promotion de la connectivité et de la diversité géographique - Domaines d'expertise : financement du développement numérique, investissement dans l'infrastructure de câbles sous-marins, partenariats public-privé, connectivité dans les petites économies - M. John Mills - Rôle/Titre : secrétaire d'État adjoint délégué, département d'État américain - Domaines d'expertise : politique numérique internationale, sécurité des câbles sous-marins, sécurité nationale et connectivité, responsabilité juridique - Mme Athena Jun Xian - Rôle/Titre : directrice générale de China Telecom Europe ; directrice générale exécutive de China Telecom Global ; présidente du comité de gestion de plusieurs systèmes de câbles sous-marins - Domaines d'expertise : Planification des réseaux mondiaux, exploitation et maintenance des câbles sous-marins, connectivité internationale, stratégies de résilience côté opérateur

Intervenants
MT
Mr. Tomas Lamanauskas
182 wpm · 8 min
HD
H.E. Dr. Bosun Tijani
166 wpm · 12 min
PS
Prof. Sandra Maximiano
118 wpm · 10 min
MJ
Mr. John Wrottesley
147 wpm · 6 min
MT
Mr. Timothy Chin
180 wpm · 7 min
MS
Mr. Sangbu Kim
105 wpm · 8 min
MA
Ms. Athena Jun Xian
105 wpm · 5 min
MJ
Mr. John Mills
136 wpm · 4 min
A
Audience
146 wpm · 1 min

Conseil consultatif international sur la résilience des câbles sous-marins

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Remarques introductives et contexte

La session a marqué la conclusion officielle de l'International Advisory Board (IAB) sur la résilience des câbles sous-marins, une initiative multipartite de deux ans co-dirigée par l'Union internationale des télécommunications (UIT) et le Comité international de protection des câbles (ICPC). Tomas Lamanauskas, le ecrétaire général adjoint de l'UIT et co-secrétaire exécutif de l'IAB, a ouvert les travaux en qualifiant l'événement de moment historique, soulignant que le conseil consultatif avait achevé ses travaux et répondu aux attentes fixées deux ans auparavant . Il a expliqué que l'initiative avait pris naissance lors d'une conversation entre lui-même et le ministre Bosun Tijani à la suite de ruptures de câbles au large des côtes d'Afrique de l'Ouest, la question centrale étant de savoir comment les gouvernements et le secteur privé pourraient s'unir pour s'assurer que chacun sache quoi faire et qu'il existe un ensemble clair de recommandations permettant d'atteindre cet objectif .

Tomas Lamanauskas a présenté la structure des travaux de l'IAB : l'organe comptait 42 membres, 40 plus deux co-présidents, et avait mobilisé 175 experts répartis en trois groupes de travail couvrant les pratiques de réparation et de déploiement, la surveillance et l'identification des risques, ainsi que la connexion des populations non connectées via les câbles sous-marins . Le processus avait progressé depuis un sommet à Abuja, où le cadre de travail avait été établi, jusqu'à un sommet ultérieur où les recommandations avaient été adoptées, pour aboutir à la présente session, qui s'est conclue par la remise d'un rapport de 200 pages . Tomas Lamanauskas a décrit le rapport comme une mine d'informations qui, selon lui, deviendrait un ouvrage de référence dans ce domaine, et a centré la discussion de la journée sur la transition de la documentation à l'action - empruntant une formule à la co-présidente, la Pre Sandra Maximiano - « du papier à la pratique » .

John Wrottesley de l'ICPC, qui animait le panel, a apporté un morceau physique de câble sous-marin CWI-3 - un câble léger installé vers 1999 ou 2000 - comme accessoire pour illustrer la discussion, offrant aux participants une représentation concrète de l'infrastructure en question et précisant que cette pièce avait passé environ 25 ans au fond de l'océan .

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L'importance cruciale des infrastructures de câbles sous-marins

Un thème fondateur traversant l'ensemble des contributions était le rôle indispensable des câbles sous-marins dans la vie moderne. Tomas Lamanauskas a rappelé aux participants que les câbles sous-marins transportent environ 99 % du trafic internet international, et que les économies, les sociétés et les infrastructures financières en dépendent profondément . Il a noté que les câbles se rompent, avec environ 180 ruptures enregistrées au cours de la dernière année, et que lorsque plusieurs câbles tombent en panne simultanément, les conséquences sont énormes .

La Pre Sandra Maximiano a renforcé ces propos en affirmant que les câbles sous-marins sont fondamentaux pour les économies et les sociétés numériques, et que les protéger n'est pas seulement une question de télécommunications, mais une priorité économique, sécuritaire et de développement . Elle a appelé à une plus grande diversité et redondance de la connectivité internationale, à des investissements soutenus dans le déploiement, la maintenance et la réparation des câbles, ainsi qu'à la simplification des procédures réglementaires pour permettre un déploiement et une réparation plus efficaces . Elle a également noté que l'écosystème de résilience devrait être élargi pour inclure les satellites, observant que ce point avait été discuté le matin même .

John Mills, du département d'État américain, a ajouté que les États-Unis s'appuient sur les câbles sous-marins pour leur croissance économique, leur sécurité nationale et leur avenir numérique, et que les câbles sont le vecteur par lequel des milliers de milliards de dollars de transactions sont effectuées quotidiennement et par lequel internet habilite les innovateurs de demain . Pour Singapour, les enjeux ont été décrits comme encore plus existentiels : Timothy Chin de l'IMDA a expliqué qu'en tant que petite nation insulaire enclavée dans les mers, au sein d'une région de 700 millions d'habitants, la connectivité par câbles sous-marins est essentielle non seulement pour la prospérité et la croissance économique, mais surtout pour la survie .

Bosun Tijani, le ministre des Communications, de l'Innovation et de l'Économie numérique du Nigeria, a proposé une réflexion philosophique, invoquant le concept d'anti-fragilité pour soutenir que, dans un monde de plus en plus interconnecté et dépendant des systèmes intelligents, il ne suffit pas de simplement résister au défaillances, les systèmes doivent être conçus pour en tirer des enseignements et en sortir renforcés . Il a cité un proverbe africain : « ce qu'un vieillard voit assis, un jeune homme ne peut le voir même s'il grimpe au sommet d'un arbre ». Cela lui a permis de souligner que les acteurs les plus expérimentés ont une responsabilité particulière de préparer leurs communautés aux défis futurs . Il a averti que plus le monde se connecte et fait confiance aux systèmes intelligents, plus les conséquences d'une rupture majeure de câble seront graves, et que l'humanité a la capacité de gérer ce défi si elle choisit de le faire .

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L'ampleur du défi de résilience

Sangbu Kim de la Banque mondiale a fourni certaines des statistiques importantes, dressant un tableau préoccupant de l'état actuel de la résilience mondiale des câbles. Il a noté qu'entre 150 et 200 pannes surviennent chaque année dans le monde, dont environ 80 % sont causées par des activités maritimes humaines . Or, la capacité mondiale de réparation est gravement insuffisante : seuls environ 70 navires de réparation existent dans le monde, dont seulement 20 à 25 sont des navires de réparation dédiés à long terme, et une proportion significative de la flotte a plus de 30 ans . En conséquence, les délais moyens de réparation ont plus que doublé, passant d'environ 20 jours à plus de 50 jours, ce qui signifie que la situation se dégrade progressivement .

Sangbu Kim a illustré les conséquences catastrophiques de la vulnérabilité des câbles pour les petites économies à travers l'exemple des Tonga, où une éruption volcanique en 2022 a endommagé un seul câble, entraînant une quasi-totale isolation numérique pendant 61 jours, affectant 182 millions de dollars USD de PIB, soit l'équivalent de 39 % du PIB total du pays . Cet exemple a démontré de manière éloquente que la résilience des câbles sous-marins n'est pas seulement une préoccupation des grandes nations bien connectées, mais un enjeu de développement existentiel pour les économies plus petites et plus vulnérables.

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Les réalisations de l'IAB et la transition de la prise de conscience à l'action

Tous les intervenants se sont accordés à saluer le rapport de l'IAB comme une réalisation historique. Tomas Lamanauskas l'a décrit comme un document riche qui, selon lui, deviendrait un ouvrage de référence dans le domaine, notant qu'il avait en pratique été co-rédigé par plus de 200 personnes - les 42 membres de l'IAB ainsi que les 175 experts des groupes de travail - qui avaient tous dû s'accorder sur son contenu . John Wrottesley a confirmé avoir lu le rapport dans son intégralité et a vivement recommandé à toutes les parties prenantes de s'y plonger et de s'orienter vers sa mise en œuvre .

La Pre Sandra Maximiano a décrit les travaux de l'IAB comme représentant une transition de la prise de conscience à l'action, notant que l'organe avait identifié les défis, échangé des expériences du monde entier et élaboré des recommandations pratiques, la responsabilité partagée étant désormais de transformer ces recommandations en préparation opérationnelle . Elle a souligné que cela implique d'établir des responsabilités claires, d'améliorer la coordination entre toutes les parties prenantes, de tester la préparation et de s'assurer que, lorsqu'une perturbation survient, les pays ont la capacité de réagir, de réparer et de se rétablir rapidement .

Bosun Tijani est allé le plus loin dans son évaluation, qualifiant le rapport de chef-d'œuvre et presque de manifeste que les ministres peuvent utiliser pour mieux se préparer . Il a reconnu que lorsque des câbles se sont rompus au large de l'Afrique de l'Ouest le 14 mars 2024, il était totalement démuni face à ce qu'il devait faire pour soutenir la réponse, et qu'il n'existait pas beaucoup de documents pouvant l'aider à ce moment-là . Le rapport de l'IAB, a-t-il soutenu, change fondamentalement cela, en fournissant une base solide pour que les ministres se préparent et agissent . Il a également exprimé sa conviction personnelle que le conseil consultatif deviendrait un modèle de résilience en général, notant que l'UIT avait également produit un rapport connexe sur les défaillances des systèmes numériques, qui montrait que de nombreux pays ne sont pas prêts à faire face à de tels scénarios .

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Approches politiques nationales : Singapour, le Portugal et le Nigeria

Le panel s'est appuyé sur les expériences nationales contrastées de Singapour, du Portugal et du Nigeria pour illustrer différentes approches en matière de politique de résilience des câbles sous-marins.

Timothy Chin a décrit l'approche globale et institutionnalisée de Singapour. L'IMDA joue à la fois le rôle de régulateur et de développeur industriel, une double fonction que Timothy Chin a décrite comme essentielle à l'efficacité de l'approche singapourienne . En tant que petite nation insulaire enclavée dans les mers, Singapour a publié en 2023 un plan directeur pour la connectivité numérique avec l'ambition de doubler son nombre de câbles, passant de 26 à 52 en dix ans, bien qu'il en compte actuellement un peu plus de 30 . L'approche réglementaire de Singapour repose sur une législation adaptée à ses besoins, répartie dans plusieurs textes : la loi sur les télécommunications, la loi sur l'autorité maritime et portuaire, et la loi sur la marine marchande. Ces textes fournissent ensemble des dispositions suffisantes pour traiter les questions relatives aux câbles sous-marins, notamment l'obligation d'enfouir les câbles à des profondeurs de quatre à douze mètres selon les conditions du fond marin . Une planification spatiale maritime et des zones protégées pour les câbles ont également été établies pour gérer le statut de Singapour en tant que plaque tournante maritime très fréquentée . Fait crucial, l'IMDA agit comme point de contact unique au sein du gouvernement singapourien pour les demandes de déploiement de câbles, en coordonnant avec toutes les agences concernées en coulisses, de sorte que les propriétaires et opérateurs de câbles n'aient à traiter qu'avec un seul organisme . Pour les réparations de câbles, l'autorité du port maritime sert de point de contact unique et s'est engagée à répondre aux demandes de réparation dans un délai de trois à cinq jours ouvrables, réduit par rapport à la norme précédente d'une semaine .

La Pre Sandra Maximiano a présenté trois enseignements clés tirés de l'expérience du Portugal. Premièrement, la géographie crée à la fois des opportunités et des responsabilités : la position atlantique du Portugal en fait une passerelle entre l'Europe, l'Afrique et les Amériques, avec environ 25 % des câbles sous-marins transitant par sa zone économique exclusive, ce qui le positionne comme un hub de connectivité important . Cependant, cela crée également une responsabilité substantielle à l'égard des infrastructures traversant les eaux portugaises . Deuxièmement, la résilience doit être intégrée dès la conception : le câble Atlantic Cam reliant le Portugal continental à Madère et aux Açores utilise une topologie en anneau qui améliore la résilience tout en soutenant la cohésion territoriale, et intègre des technologies de câbles intelligents pouvant simultanément renforcer la connectivité, la coopération scientifique et les capacités d'alerte précoce . Troisièmement, la résilience dépend de la coopération avant que les incidents ne surviennent : le Portugal a organisé des exercices nationaux impliquant des régulateurs, des opérateurs, l'armée et d'autres autorités publiques pour tester les procédures et améliorer la coordination, démontrant que la résilience relève autant de la gouvernance et de la préparation que de l'infrastructure .

Bosun Tijani a livré un témoignage franc sur l'expérience du Nigeria. Lorsque des câbles se sont rompus au large de l'Afrique de l'Ouest en mars 2024, il s'est décrit comme totalement démuni face à ce qu'il fallait faire, son régulateur n'ayant qu'une compréhension partielle de la situation et se contentant de dire aux propriétaires de câbles de trouver leurs propres solutions . Il a noté que les propriétaires de câbles pourraient même considérer la panne d'un concurrent comme une opportunité commerciale plutôt que comme un moment de solidarité, et que les recommandations du rapport de l'IAB contribuent à établir l'obligation morale et la demande sociétale de partage des capacités dans de telles circonstances . Il a soutenu que cela reflète un échec plus large du gouvernement à établir des protocoles de coordination clairs, et que la résilience ne passe pas par de nouvelles lois ou des amendes, mais par ce que le gouvernement peut faire pour rendre la coordination plus rapide et plus efficace . Il a cité un exemple positif plus récent : lorsqu'une entreprise de câbles s'est adressée à son ministère pour obtenir une autorisation, il a pu obtenir une directive présidentielle alignant toutes les agences, aboutissant à l'atterrissage de câble le plus rapide de l'histoire du Nigeria . Il a appelé chaque pays à disposer d'un organe de coordination, qu'il s'agisse d'un régulateur ou d'une autre agence, qui soit doté d'un protocole établi lui permettant de convoquer toutes les agences concernées pour faire face à une rupture de câble . Il a également proposé que l'Afrique de l'Ouest envisage la création d'un centre de surveillance régional axé sur la prévision des perturbations de câbles, compte tenu de la nature partagée des câbles dans la région .

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Perspectives industrielles : planification des routes, redondance et modèles commerciaux

Athena Jun Xian de China Telecom Europe a offert une perspective industrielle sur la manière dont la résilience est déjà intégrée dans les décisions d'investissement pour les nouveaux systèmes de câbles sous-marins. Elle a identifié deux dimensions clés de l'atténuation des risques. Premièrement, dans la planification des routes, les développeurs évitent de manière proactive les zones à haut risque, notamment les zones de pêche, les zones de mouillage, les voies de navigation, les ceintures sismiques et les points d'étranglement géopolitiques encombrés tels que le détroit de Malacca et la mer Rouge . Les nouveaux systèmes de câbles Eurasie ont adopté des routes alternatives au Moyen-Orient passant par l'Arabie saoudite ou Oman via des segments terrestres pour contourner la mer Rouge, améliorant substantiellement la sécurité globale des câbles . Deuxièmement, dans le déploiement géographique, chaque système de câbles sous-marins est conçu avec plusieurs stations d'atterrissage, chacune interconnectée avec divers systèmes de câbles indépendants, les circuits transfrontaliers et les services aux clients étant répartis de manière équilibrée entre des systèmes diversifiés afin d'atténuer les défaillances en point unique .

Athena Jun Xian a soutenu qu'en adoptant un déploiement diversifié et une redondance de réseau dès la phase d'investissement et de construction, les opérateurs peuvent efficacement atténuer les perturbations des services internationaux causées par une défaillance en point unique . Elle a approuvé les travaux de l'IAB comme reflétant l'aspiration commune de toutes les parties à construire un réseau mondial de câbles sous-marins sûr, fiable et inclusif, et a appelé tous les gouvernements et entreprises industrielles du monde entier à adopter activement et à mettre pleinement en œuvre les recommandations directrices de l'IAB .

Sangbu Kim a complété cette perspective industrielle sous l'angle du financement du développement, soutenant que les exigences de résilience doivent être intégrées dans les modèles de financement dès le départ, avec des unités de dérivation et de nouveaux atterrissages incorporés dès la phase de conception . Il a souligné l'importance de partenariats entre le secteur public et le secteur privé bien conçus et de mécanismes de dérisquage, notamment des garanties et des subventions publiques, pour permettre au secteur privé d'investir dans la résilience sans risque commercial excessif . Il a également soutenu que les opérateurs privés doivent intégrer la résilience dans leurs modèles commerciaux, et que s'ils ne peuvent pas pleinement adopter des mesures sûres et résilientes dès le départ, les parties prenantes doivent continuer à exercer une pression en ce sens .

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Le rôle des gouvernements, de l'industrie et des organisations internationales

Un thème central et récurrent de la discussion portait sur la répartition appropriée des rôles et des responsabilités entre les gouvernements, l'industrie et les organisations internationales. Un large consensus s'est dégagé sur le fait que la résilience ne peut être atteinte par aucune partie prenante agissant seule, et que les gouvernements, les régulateurs, l'industrie, les organisations internationales, la communauté technique et le monde académique ont tous un rôle à jouer .

Timothy Chin a articulé un cadre clair pour cette répartition. Les gouvernements devraient se concentrer sur la coordination interne avant de s'engager avec le secteur privé, en intégrant les besoins réglementaires et économiques dans des politiques et des cadres cohérents . L'industrie devrait continuer à innover, à apporter de nouvelles solutions et technologies, à développer des capacités de réparation et à coopérer ouvertement avec les gouvernements . Les organisations internationales telles que l'UIT jouent un rôle distinct mais tout aussi important dans la sensibilisation, le plaidoyer et le pouvoir de rassemblement, en réunissant les bonnes personnes dans la bonne salle pour avoir les bonnes conversations .

John Mills a offert une perspective complémentaire du côté du gouvernement américain, soutenant que l'industrie connaît probablement mieux les détails opérationnels de la maintenance des câbles et de la continuité des services que le gouvernement, puisque c'est son métier d'assurer la continuité des opérations . Le rôle du gouvernement, a-t-il suggéré, est de communiquer clairement ses priorités à l'industrie, d'assurer la responsabilité juridique en cas de ruptures de câbles par le biais d'une procédure régulière et transparente, et de créer un environnement sûr et de confiance dans lequel l'industrie peut être libérée pour innover .

Bosun Tijani a contesté tout cadrage qui traite les câbles comme une propriété et une responsabilité purement privées, soutenant avec force que les propriétaires de câbles ne possèdent pas les banques, ne sont pas responsables du PIB et ne sont pas responsables des soins de santé. C'est l'ensemble de l'économie qui supporte le coût des défaillances de câbles, et pas seulement les propriétaires de câbles . Il a déclaré qu'il n'existe aucun monde dans lequel le gouvernement se désintéresserait de la résilience des câbles, que ce soit pour l'atterrissage, la réparation ou la redondance, et que cela coûterait davantage aux entreprises si le gouvernement était totalement tenu à l'écart . Il a appelé chaque nation à disposer d'un plan clair sur le rôle du gouvernement, et l'UIT à soutenir les gouvernements dans la prise des mesures appropriées et la mise en place des bons protocoles . Il a établi un parallèle avec la déclaration du Nigeria selon laquelle les infrastructures de télécommunications constituent des infrastructures nationales importanes, ce qui, a-t-il dit, a entraîné plus d'un milliard de dollars d'investissements du secteur privé en six mois .

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La mise en œuvre comme priorité déterminante

Le panel a convergé fortement vers l'idée que la priorité immédiate et déterminante est de passer du rapport de l'IAB à une mise en œuvre concrète. La Pre Sandra Maximiano a déclaré que ce qui est vraiment important maintenant est de passer à la mise en œuvre, ce qui exige la volonté et l'engagement de toutes les parties prenantes pour passer de la rhétorique à quelque chose qui soit vraiment mis en pratique . Elle a identifié quatre exigences clés : l'investissement dans le déploiement de davantage de câbles et de capacités de réparation, ainsi que dans le renforcement des capacités pour disposer des bonnes personnes aux bons endroits ; une meilleure gouvernance et une plus grande certitude réglementaire ; des protocoles plus harmonisés et une harmonisation réglementaire entre les juridictions pour réduire la fragmentation et la complexité ; et le maintien du modèle multipartite que l'IAB avait mis en avant .

Sangbu Kim a convenu que l'étape de mise en œuvre est arrivée et qu'il ne suffit plus de faire des simples planifications ou des documentations. Il a avancé que la Banque mondiale investirait davantage dans des approches résilientes pour les câbles sous-marins, notamment en Afrique et en Afrique de l'Ouest à travers le Programme d'intégration ouest-africaine, et attirerait une plus grande participation du secteur privé . Il a souligné l'importance de clarifier les rôles et les responsabilités entre les gouvernements, les institutions de financement du développement et les opérateurs privés, les gouvernements adoptant des stratégies nationales et régionales claires intégrant la diversité géographique, des points d'atterrissage multiples et des politiques d'accès ouvert .

Athena Jun Xian a soutenu que ce n'est que par une mise en œuvre concrète et une coopération pragmatique approfondie entre gouvernements et industrie que des obstacles tels que les délais d'approbation prolongés, la diversité géographique insuffisante et les ressources régionales déséquilibrées pourront être résolus, et que la résilience du réseau mondial de câbles sous-marins pourra être systématiquement renforcée .

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Cadres juridiques et questions non résolues

Un participant du public a introduit une problétique qui n'avait pas été soulevée par les panélistes : celle de savoir si le rapport de l'IAB suggère une approche juridique internationale constructive, et si l'UIT pourrait solliciter un avis consultatif auprès d'organes juridiques internationaux, à l'instar du rôle joué par les organes scientifiques pour susciter des avis juridiques internationaux sur le changement climatique . Tomas Lamanauskas a répondu avec prudence, notant que l'accent était actuellement mis sur la mise en œuvre des cadres existants et le partage des meilleures pratiques, et que le rapport de l'IAB se concentrait directement sur la mise en œuvre et les meilleures pratiques plutôt que sur la réforme juridique . Il a reconnu que le Département des affaires juridiques de l'ONU pour le droit de la mer avait été observateur auprès du conseil consultatif, et que les résultats avaient été présentés à l'Autorité internationale des fonds marins, à l'OMI et à d'autres organes pour leur réflexion . Il a également mentionné l'existence d'un traité du XIXe siècle sur la protection des câbles télégraphiques que certains pays appliquent, bien qu'il ne soit pas universellement accepté .

Cet échange a mis en lumière une lacune potentielle dans les travaux de l'IAB : si le rapport fournit un cadre complet de meilleures pratiques et de mise en œuvre, l'adéquation des instruments juridiques internationaux existants pour faire face aux vulnérabilités modernes des câbles sous-marins reste une question ouverte. La question de savoir si des cadres juridiques internationaux contraignants plus solides sont finalement nécessaires - et si l'UIT ou d'autres organes devraient poursuivre de tels mécanismes - est restée sans réponse, représentant un sujet important pour les délibérations futures.

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Remarques de clôture et perspectives

Dans ses remarques de clôture, Tomas Lamanauskas a réfléchi à la réalité physique des câbles sous-marins, qui sont minces, longs et vulnérables malgré l'énorme dépendance que les économies et sociétés modernes leur accordent. Il a ainsi rappelé l'importance de leur protection . Il a souligné l'extraordinaire réalisation collaborative que représente le rapport, qui avait en pratique été co-rédigé par plus de 200 personnes ayant toutes dû s'accorder sur son contenu, et a appelé toutes les parties prenantes à mettre désormais en œuvre l'expertise précieuse qu'il contient .

Il a observé que la session avait bouclé la boucle : l'initiative avait débuté au Forum du SMSI deux ans auparavant avec Bosun Tijani, la Pre Sandra Maximiano, John Wrottesley et lui-même réunis en panel, et il était approprié de clore ce chapitre avec un résultat concret tout en ouvrant la voie à la phase de mise en œuvre, d'une importance cruciale . Le ton général de la clôture était résolument orienté vers l'action, le consensus de la salle étant résumé par la formule qui avait résonné tout au long de la journée : le temps de la documentation est révolu, et le travail consistant à passer du papier à la pratique doit maintenant commencer.

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Mr. Tomas Lamanauskas
Hello everyone so I think I really love how we are so on time in the last day of the and really great to see such a good presence of the colleagues here again today so I think it's really a landmark year for us and I think we'll be hearing about that much more but maybe I already can preview that this is the day when the International Advisory Board of the Assembly of Cable Resilience completed very successfully its work and really delivered to the expectations that we set two years ago so I think this is really great news and of course we'll hear from the co -chairs in a minute so I'm Thomas Lamanowskas, I'm Deputy Secretary General of ITU and as well as Co -Executive Secretary of the International Advisory Board of the Assembly of Cable Resilience and For now, I'll just introduce John Worsley. He's the general manager of ICPC, International Cable Protection Committee, so the partner of ITU in this work. And we will be co -moderating this. I'll do the easy part, just introduce our co -chairs in a minute for the speaking, and John will take us through the agenda and introduce other intervenants as well. So I think, you know, just to, of course, as a reminder for the first, of course, submarine cables are a critical infrastructure of our lives, you know, so indeed it carries around 99 % of the submarine cables or the international internet traffic. And, of course, increasingly we're really dependent on that infrastructure. We're dependent on our economy, society, so our financial infrastructure, you know, and when they break, we feel it. And regretfully, even though they're not that, you know, they're not that many of them, you know, they do break. Quite a bit, I think, in the last year, 2025, which had a... around 180 breaks, you know, of the summer cables. And indeed, sometimes, especially when the multiple cables are broken at the same time, this really felt. And then, of course, when we started, two years ago now, I think this whole idea started that something needs to be done about that and something needs to be done in a collective way by the governments and industry. And I probably can share that. You know, I started the conversation by Minister Tijani and myself in the office and saying, what can we do about that? And that was after cables in West Africa or off the coast of West Africa were broken. I'm pretty sure Minister Tijani will talk about that. And I think the idea was how can governments and the private sector really come together to really make sure that everyone knows what to do. There's a kind of clear recommendations and clear, let's say, recipe to deliver that. And I think we delivered to that. So we started International Advisory Board of Summer Cable Resilience in November. November 2024 I'm kind of now confusing not to confuse the years then we had a very successful Abuja summit where we set up the work framework, how we'll do that and set up working groups the original international advisory body has 42 members, so 40 members plus two co -chairs, so I'll introduce in a minute, and then of course in the, and then working groups have involved 175 experts all around the world to really work on that so those working groups looked at the repair and the deployment and repair practices they looked at the monitoring, risk monitoring and identification as well as looked at how to connect the unconnected, how to bring the last mile to the people who still don't have it in terms of the submarine cables so those three working groups so then we had the portal summit where we successfully agreed on recommendations I'm pretty sure our co -chair, Professor Maxine is going to be here in a minute Sandra will also talk about that. And finally, today, we'll finish that with a 200 -page report, you know. But I think I skimmed it. I can't say I read every word. But I can tell you already, I feel it's a really rich information, and I believe it will become a handbook for this area. And now, of course, I think today we talked a lot about from, and I know some of our intervenants will talk about how to move forward to implementation. But I'll steal one of your phrases, Sandra. Sorry for that. You know, from paper to practice, you know. So I think that is a stage to move. But so with that and having outlined where we are, I think let me then really bring in our co -chairs to start with, to really speak about what we've done and expectations there as opening trajectory remarks, and then we'll move to a moderated session. So we'll start with Minister Bosun Tijani. Thank you, Minister Bosun Tijani, His Excellency, to open, to bring his introductory remarks. Over.
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H.E. Dr. Bosun Tijani
Thank you so much, DSG, distinguished panelists, guests. It's, of course, a pleasure to be back. discussing what I now consider to be my favorite topic. And the reason for that is I think we're making significant progress in connecting our world. And I think in that process, because of our ability to also now digitize most of our realities and also analyze the data sets that we're seeing, we're seeing intelligent systems now becoming critical in our quest, of course, to build a better world, which I think is exciting. But if you allow me to quote a popular, and I'm going to twist the use of this proverb from Africa, which says, what an old man sees while sitting down, a young man cannot see even if he climbs to the top of a tree. It's not direct interpretation, but I think what is expected typically of us in Africa is that if you're older, that you take responsibility, that you take responsibility for what you're doing. for the future of your community, that you actually ensure that you're not just thinking about today, but you're also projecting into the future. And I know not everyone believes in the concept of anti -fragility. I think when it came out, many people had different things to say about it. But we have to, if we're living in a world that is now networked and connected, we have to ensure that our world doesn't give in at the nearest stress that comes to it. Our fragile systems will typically give up to stress. We have to ensure that our world is anti -fragile. In fact, when stress comes, I think we have to now learn from it. Because the disaster that we'll see if there's a major cut to subsea cable, I think most of us have seen it, but the more we get our world connected, the more we trust intelligent systems, the more we're going to depend on connectivity. And the more we have to. Ensure that the systems that power connectivity, that we have a clear way of. keeping them up most of the time. I think we have the capabilities of doing so. It's about how we manage redundancy when they happen. They will happen. There's nothing we can do about them happening. I think the only thing we can do however is to project into the future. And this is where I like to see technology. If we're all participating in mainstreaming technologies, digital technologies, I think it's our responsibility as well to ensure we're preparing for days that these technologies may ask us questions as to whether we're prepared for breakdown. That's what I like about the work that we've done in this advisory board. I personally think it's going to become a model for resilience generally. And I like the fact that without this board, I think IT is also now expanding. They did a work, a report with Science Pool on when digital fails, which is speaking to when digital systems generally in a society fails. And you'll find that many countries are not ready. for that. So for me, this is something that will become a model. I do hope that as we conclude the work of the advisory board itself, the reports, if you've not seen it, I think you should find a copy. I think it's a stellar piece of document that will guide the way we think about connectivity in Nigeria. I hope I can return to my country, of course, to kick off a movement where we have a better protocol for how we manage stress to subsea assets. That's what I'm hoping we can do more collectively. So I think on this note, it's just to appreciate everyone that has been part of that work. It's a fantastic piece of work that in five, ten years' time, we will look back and I think we'll be proud of ourselves for what we've contributed. Thank you so much.
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Mr. Tomas Lamanauskas
Thank you very much. Thank you very much
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Prof. Sandra Maximiano
for your excellency. So I think now another co -chair, Professor Maximiano. Thank you. So excellency, Deputy Secretary General ITU and Ex -Team Minister, Co -Chair, Basanti Jani, Distinction. Distinguished colleagues, over the past two years, the International Advisory Board and Sabanin Cable Resilience have taken an extraordinary journey. What began as a conversation has become a truly global multi -stakeholder effort to strengthen the resilience of one of the world's most critical digital infrastructures. The work of the International Advisory Board should be seen as a transition from awareness to action, exactly like it was mentioned here before, from paper to practice. We have identified the challenge, exchanged experience from around the world, and developed practical recommendations. Our shared responsibility now is to transform those recommendations into operational preparedness. Thank you. This means establishing clear responsibilities, improving coordination among all stakeholders. testing preparedness and ensuring that when disrupt occurs, countries have the capacity to respond, repair and recover quickly. As infrastructure carrying more than 99 % of international data traffic, submarine cables are fundamental to our digital economies and societies. Protecting them is therefore not only a telecommunication issue, it is an economic, security and development priority. Strengthening resilience requires action on several fronts. We need greater diversity and redundancy of international connectivity. We need sustained investment in cable deployment, maintenance and repair capabilities. We need to streamline regulatory and administrative procedures so that cables can be deployed and repaired more efficiently. And we need to promote best practices for risk prevention, monitoring, early incident detection and coordinated response. But perhaps the most important lesson from the advisory body is that resilience cannot be achieved by a single stakeholder acting alone. Governments, regulators, industry, international organizations, the technical community and academia all have a role to play. For Portugal, resilience also means inclusion. Every country, regardless of its geography or level of development, should be able to benefit from resilient, reliable and affordable international connectivity. Building resilience is therefore also about strengthening social cohesion, reducing the digital divide and ensuring that no region is left behind. The advisory body has demonstrated what can be achieved. When we work together. The next challenge is implementation. If we maintain the spirit of cooperation and international and at the national level, because I think the message that we should take is that this international work and recommendations should be taken home from each of us, I'm totally confident that the recommendations developed over the past year will translate into stronger networks, stronger partnerships, and ultimately a more resilient and inclusive digital future. Thank you.
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Mr. Tomas Lamanauskas
hank you very much.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
Thank you, Thomas, and thank you to the Minister and to Sandra for your opening remarks. So to begin with, I brought a small prop with me. So I have a piece of CWI -3, a lightweight piece of cable, which was installed around 1999. Or 2000. So this piece of cable has sat in the deep ocean for around 25 to 30 years. So I thought it's quite a nice way to frame the discussion. From the perspective of the ICPC, I think it's been a fantastic collaboration to produce this report and work with all of the stakeholders involved. Unlike Thomas, I have read every word of the report several times and a lot of the ITU team as well. And I really recommend that everybody does take note of it and look towards implementation as well. So for the sequence of the panel this afternoon, I will come to each of our panellists in turn with a short introduction and ask one question each. Then we'll have some time for questions from the audience and then we can move forward on that basis. So to begin with, I'd like to introduce Mr Timothy Chin, who is the Assistant Chief Executive of IMDA in Singapore. So to begin with, from the perspective of Singapore. It's one of the world's leading digital hubs. So how does Singapore approach submarine cable resilience from a policy and operational perspective?
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Mr. Timothy Chin
Thank you John. I hope everyone can hear me. And congratulations to the co -chairs of the IAB, fellow members and ITU and ICPC on the successful conclusion of the IAB and the report. There's been a lot of congratulations today, but I think the real work starts after this, now that the report, the publication is out and has been finalized, and we really move into implementation. From Singapore's perspective, to address John's question, our starting point really is the situation that we find ourselves in. For those of you who might not be familiar with Singapore, we are a small island in Southeast Asia in a region of 700 million people, and we are fundamentally sea -locked. We are a small island in Southeast Asia in a region of 700 million people, and we are fundamentally sea -locked. We are a small island in Southeast Asia in a region of 700 million people, and we are fundamentally sea -locked. We are fundamentally sea -locked. are not particularly large, and the waters around us really sort of are part of our neighbours' waters as well, which is why submarine cable connectivity and resilience is critical, not just for our prosperity, economic growth and development, but frankly for survival as well if we want to continue on the path that we have taken over the last 60 over years. In fact, we put out a digital connectivity blueprint in 2023 that outlined an ambition to double the number of cables that we had in 2023. This was 26 cables. We wanted to double that in 10 years. Currently, we are just over 30 cables, so we still have some work to do to hit the targets that we have set for ourselves. So that would be our starting point. My second point, really, is the importance of our partnership with industry. My organisation, the Infocom Media Development Authority of Singapore, is a regulator. but we are also an industry developer and we think it's critical that in what we do and to be effective in what we do, we don't just take a regulatory stance but we also try and incorporate that industry lens as well and find a good landing for both sides and we think this is the way that we need to move forward. How does this manifest in how we treat submarine cable and submarine cable resilience? I would say two smaller points here. First, we try and ensure that we have laws which are fit for purpose. We don't take an overarching approach where we have a single law on submarine cables, submarine cable resilience, but we do ensure that individual laws that touch on these areas, the Telecommunications Act in Singapore, our Maritime and Port Authority Act, even our Merchant Shipping Act, all contain sufficient provisions that address the issues of subsea cables and then we translate these into requirements such as requiring that cables within our waters are buried to sufficient depth to protect them. From the anchors of very large crew carriers. as well, so that translates to about 4 to 12 meters depending on where we are on the seabed exactly. Another policy that we've enacted based on our laws is really maritime spatial planning and ensuring that protected zones for cables because Singapore is a very busy maritime hub as well. Maybe just a third example, and this touches on maybe the second sub -point I mentioned earlier, which is ensuring that we take a whole -of -government approach to subsea cable resilience, protection, deployment, and so on. My agency acts as the single point of contact in the Singapore government for applications for cable deployment. We ensure at the back end we are coordinated and we work with all the other agencies that are involved in this, whether it's environment, whether it's maritime, and so on and so forth. So the applicants, cable owners and operators, only really need to reach out to one sort of body, and we help facilitate those applications as well. Same way we adopt a very streamlined permitting process for cable repairs, which we think is a very important part of the application process. It's essential. In that instance, the maritime... Port Authority is our single point of contact, and they have committed to responding to cable applications, sorry, repair, cable repair applications within three to five working days. We brought this down from a few years ago where it was one week and we tried to really halve that and as much as possible we try and go for the three working days, if not up to five working days. So a short, quick response to John's question. Thank you.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
Thank you, Timothy. So next I will come to Mr. Sang -bu Kim, who's the Vice President for Digital and AI at the World Bank. So Sang -bu, in the context of digital development and economic growth, how does the World Bank view submarine cable resilience?
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Mr. Sangbu Kim
Yes, the World Bank has been participating in this group for the last couple of years, and then we, especially we, we were leading, the Working Group 3, fostering connectivity and geographic diversity. So let me start at some view and current situation. for the cable, submarine cable resilience. We found that the advancing resilience and inclusion submarine cable infrastructure in small economy is really crucial and critical for everybody. The one founding is that, you know, for example, in Tonga, there was a volcanic eruption in 2022. Damage to a single cable resulted in near total digital isolation for 61 days. That has affected $182 million GDP, which was 39 % of total GDP of Tonga. So one single, you know, accident or incident impact have a lot of impact on this. But in our reality, in Singapore, resilient measures for this is that we are seeing between 150 to 200 outages every year across the globe. Almost 200 accidents are happening in our countries. But among them, 80 % caused by human maritime activities. But our reality to tackle this issue and to fix this accident, we have only roughly 70 vessels. And only 20 or 25 are dedicated long -term repairing. And we see there's some significant share of that 70 fleets are very old, 30 years old, more than 30 years old. So as a result, average repair time has been increasing. We used to fix this around 20 days, but nowadays it takes more than 50 days. So the situation is getting worse and worse. So this is how we see the situation. And then from the World Bank perspective, some concrete measures and actions are really critical. First, identify market failure and gaps is a starting point, along with many international partners and counterparts. But second, bringing stakeholders to the table early at the design stage to unlock resilient and inclusive project scope and design through. sport branching units and new landings so that means whenever we design a new financing model we try very hard to design the resilient requirement from the beginning so without those pre -measured it is really hard to just deploy the new infrastructure in these cases and careful distribution of risk and alignment for well -designed public -private partnership will be really crucial part also we are really thinking to bringing some de -risking mechanism along with guaranteed platform or some public grants so that some private sector can freely or more comfortably invest in this space without any further concern about this so those type of things are we are currently driving these days so I think some more attention and some more public investment for this resilience and especially some measure for fixed, some extended facilities and cables will be a really important part. And then we have to see this as a public goods and public infrastructure, not only one single country and single individual or single private sector cannot fix it. That's why we are here. And so maybe some more attention to invest more, some measurement to quickly fix the affected facilities and cable should be followed. Thank you,
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Mr. John Wrottesley
Sang -Doo. So I'd like to introduce next Mr. John Mills, who's the Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U .S. Department of State in the USA. So, John, we've heard from the first two panellists about actionable steps to look towards submarine cable resilience. But why has it become an increasingly important priority in international digital policy discussions?
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Mr. John Mills
Well, thank you, John, and good afternoon to all. And thank you for inviting me to participate in this important panel discussion on the resilience of undersea cables. And thank you to Deputy Secretary General Thomas Laminowskis. And to our friends from Nigeria and Portugal, Minister Bosun Tajani and Professor Sandra Maximiano, for all this great work that has been accomplished by this advisory body. The United States is a champion in the undersea cable industry. Like every other country in this room, the United States relies on undersea cables for economic growth and security, and our national security and our digital future. The world is now increasingly aware that undersea cables are how citizens connect and how trillions of dollars in transactions are performed daily and how the Internet empowers our future innovators and how governments collaborate and communicate. Cables are indeed critical infrastructure that need our attention and care, and we are here during AI for Good Week. This is how all the ones and zeros of AI travel. For those of us who are government officials, we have a responsibility to ensure that our citizens, businesses, and governments have the necessary global connectivity that provides economic opportunities and underpins national security and provides a foundational information network for our next generation of innovators. For those in industry, and this really is in many ways an industry -led domain and activity, our efforts are focused on enabling industry action, investment, and expansion that help deliver on the global policy of international communication. I hope the outcomes reached by the international administration and the advisory body will get... you confidence that we are standing here together to support your undersea cables and that we are taking actions to build resilience. Thanks.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
Thank you, John. So next, I'd like to introduce Ms. Jun Xian, who's the Managing Director of China Telecom in Europe and also the Executive General Manager of China Telecom Global. So we've heard from a governance and policy and funding perspective so far, but from an industry perspective, as demand for international connectivity continues to grow, how is resilience influencing investment decisions in new submarine cable systems, for example, route selection, geographic diversity and network redundancy?
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Ms. Athena Jun Xian
Thank you. I'm from China Telecom Europe. I've been working for global network planning operation and also the maintenance. So also as MC chairman of several existing or ongoing submarine cables, I'm more than happy to have this opportunity to share some practice or some opinion from carrier side. And we all know that in recent years, emerging technologies such as AI or content technology have continued to emerge, also driving a surge demand for cross-border data flows. Countries across the globe have grown increasingly reliant on stable, high speed and also secure international data. Internet connectivity as the primary carrier of cross-border data transmission, submarine cables have grown. drawing growing global attention to efforts aimed at boosting their resilience. When we're making investment decisions for new submarine cable systems, I think all stakeholders adopt targeted risk mitigation strategies in two key dimensions. First, I think we all know that in route planning, developers proactively right now still clear of high-risk loans, including fishing grounds and anchorage areas, shipping lanes, and also seismic belts, as well as congested choke points such as the Strait of Malacca and also the Red Sea, we all know, for a lot of geopolitical reasons. Right now, some new Eurasia cable systems have now been developed, adopted alternative Middle Eastern routes passing through Saudi Arabia or Amman, and that kind of terrestrial routes to bypass the Red Sea. substantially improving overall cable safety. And the second point is in terms of geographic deployment. Each submarine cable system right now is designed with multiple landing stations, and every landing station interconnects with various independent cable systems as well. Cross-border circuits and customer services are evenly distributed across diverse cable systems. And landing station in grass points is very important too. With dedicated backup resources, s reserved for service restoration in the event of cable outage. By embracing diversified deployment and network redundancy during the investment and construction phase of submarine cable systems, operators can effectively mitigate disruptions to international services caused by single -point failure. I think that's the main two points.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
Thank you. Thank you very much. And I think it's encouraging that it's not something that needs to be solved today, but there's resilience built in through network planning and system design already. So thank you for that. So without needing further introduction, I'd like to come to His Excellency Minister Bosun Tijani next. So Nigeria has played a leading role in advancing the submarine cable resilience agenda through the advisory body. So my question is, what do you see as the next step in the development of submarine cable systems? What are the most important achievements of this initiative?
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H.E. Dr. Bosun Tijani
Thank you so much John I think the report is the most important and it's because of the quality of the report so when we have the cable cut in West Africa I think it was 14th of March 2024 affected a few cables including May 1 and I see the CEO of May 1 in the room so you can also speak to it as a minister I was totally clueless on what I needed to do to be able to support this and I hear many people talk about these cables as being private property so it's the responsibility of the cable owners and I think even in our meeting earlier one of the cable owners was talking about how they feel the impact the most but I think that's not true because it's the entire economy the owners of the cable don't own the banks they're not responsible for GDP they're not responsible for healthcare even if they're being fined or insurance is paying they won't be able to cover the losses that will happen to the systems that are running critical services in our communities. So for me, I think just looking for what government should be doing to increase, and I think that's what people miss when we talk about resilience. It's not about new laws or fines. It's really about what can we do to help coordination to be faster and better. And I think every country should do that. You know, government should support the process for redundancy management. I didn't know how redundancy was being managed. You know, of course, I spoke to my regulator. I think they had an idea, but I don't think they also had full context in that sense because this was left. The best they would do is tell the owners of the cables to find a solution to it. But government could help, right? Setting out clear protocols could demonstrate how cable owners can collaborate to make this faster. So it's not about whether the CEO of the cable that is not being caught is seeing this as an opportunity for supremacy. but knowing that they have the moral obligation and the demand from society to be able to allow capacity to be switched onto their cable. And I think that's what is coming out of here. The recommendations in this report gives a strong foundation for ministers to be able to prepare better. So I can go back home, and I've said that in the earlier meeting, I can go back home working with our regulator, ensuring that we're strengthening the desk that is responsible for subsea cable, perhaps even hosting a workshop where we discuss this report to say, what more can we do to enhance resilience, perhaps training more people. We need immediate capacities to be able to manage this. I don't know how many people we have who can step in and manage this. Perhaps because in the West African region, we share a lot of our cables, regional redundancy protocol. There's no reason why we can't even think about setting up a monitoring center for the region as well that actually is focused on being able to predict when these things will happen. And I like what I heard from Singapore as well, which currently we don't have the ability of, you said the organization is responsible for coordinating the maritime and everyone. Every country must have that. If it's going to be a regulator, it should have a set protocol where all these other agencies are aware that they can be summoned by the regulator to come have a conversation on how to fix a broken cable. I think that sort of protocol should be set up. And I think the document has done a fantastic job detailing this. It's almost like a manifesto in a way that I can then take back and say as a minister, I can't excuse myself that I don't know anymore. And I'm being honest with you. When it happened, there were. There weren't that many documents that could help. But now I think these advisory bodies produce a masterpiece that I believe every country should take and create something out of.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
And I think collaboration is a word that we'll hear a lot today. So thank you for that. So I'll come next to the fellow co -chair, Professor Sandra Maximiano from Anacom. So looking from the report and its achievements to the impact nationally, Portugal obviously serves as a key gateway between Europe, Africa and the Americas. So what lessons can be drawn from Portugal's experience in promoting resilient international connectivity?
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Prof. Sandra Maximiano
Thanks a lot for the question. So Portugal experience suggests three main lessons, I would say. First, geography is an opportunity, but of course also creates tons of responsibility. Second, resilience must be built by design. And third, resilience depends on cooperation before incidents occur. So let me first talk about geography. Portugal's Atlantic position, natural position of Portugal, has a gateway between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. So Portugal occupies a very significant position, not only as an Atlantic gateway, but as a global connection hub with a direct connection via submarine cables to several continents. Around also 25 % of submarine cables pass through our exclusive economic zone, position the country as a technological hub capable of attracting data centers, digital platforms, and international services. But as I said before, also gives us much more responsibility in taking care of all these. This is a very important treaty. infrastructure that passes in our exclusive economic zone. So, but being this a landing point is not enough. Resilience depends on the entire connectivity ecosystem. And this is one of also the key conclusions of FANACOM's forthcoming study on Portugal's submarine cable ecosystem. So, without anticipating many details of this study, the study reinforces a central point for this discussion. Submarine cables should be addressed not only as individual systems, but as part of a wider resilience ecosystem involving landing points, terrestrial backhaul, route diversity, repair capacity, security arrangements, and coordination between public authorities and operators. And maybe even, we should even take it further, and this morning we are discussing even including in this ecosystem satellites as well. So, We should always broaden our perspective about this resilience. And resilience, the second point, must be built by design. And a good example, also from Portugal, is the Atlantic Cam. So it's our submarine cable that connects the main island, Portugal, with Madeira and Azores. And there's a ring typology, which improves resilience while also supporting the territorial cohesion. And integrate some smart cable technologies that also shows that this infrastructure can simultaneously strengthen connectivity, scientific cooperation, and some early warning capabilities. And at last, one key lesson that I also want to mention was the route diversity and redundancy. It's a very important point in our recommendations. projects such as the Transatlantic Alalink, connections through SINCH, reduce dependence on traditional northern European routes and create some alternative path between Europe, Latin America and Africa it's an example of this redundancy and the third point that I also mentioned was about cooperation and cooperation is extremely important, not only this cooperation that we have been seeing at international level but at national level and Portugal has organized national exercises involving regulators, operators the Navy and other public authorities to test procedures and improve coordination, so these exercises is a very good example how we can actually move from paper to practice as we have been talking a lot about this today because this demonstrates this exercise demonstrates that resilience is not only about infrastructure, it is a lot about governance and preparedness and trusted cooperation Thanks.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
Thank you. So I'm going to come to the audience next. So we will have maybe time for one or two questions and then I'll come back for a final question to the panellists. So we have some participating online and then people in the room. So please, please go ahead and raise your hand if you have a question.
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Audience
Thank you very much. I'd like to let the interviewer of this year. Thomas, if you call on June, we discuss in New York. Right. So I have one question as well as one suggestion. Does this report which you have come out with suggest kind of international constructive legal approach? Because the kind of discussions which we had in New York last month. So is this part of this report? There is one number. And as you may be doing, because some of the problems which we discussed last month. had to do with some of the hotspot areas. And I was just wondering, like the IPCC, gave a very strong recommendation, which resulted in federalist opinion by the ICG and ICLOS on climate change. Is this something what ITU is also planning to seek? Some sort of federalist opinion, if you call. That is what the discussion revolved around. Thank you so much.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
Thank you. So maybe a question for Thomas, and then if the panelists have reflections as well.
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Mr. Tomas Lamanauskas
Thank you very much, John, and thank you very much, Judge Shaw, for this question. Great to collaborate. I think for now, of course, my most focus was on implementation of existing frameworks, because I think the feeling was there's a lot of existing there that member states don't necessarily fully know, and different other stakeholders are also not fully aware, so we really need to make sure that those best practices are fully shared. Then, of course, the question is to our member states and legal professionals like yourselves, you know, what's next, you know. So what we have, though, we have UN Department of the Law of the Sea as an observer to this international advisory body, you know. So we also have been presenting these results for the CBET Authority, for example, MO and other bodies. And then for them to reflect, ultimately for the member states to reflect if there is a question whether they need to be, whether legal frameworks need to be strengthened or revised. As you know, we have a treaty on telegraph cable protection from 19th century that, again, in the recent briefs was also mentioned. And I think some countries, they do apply that treaty, you know, so even though it's not such a universally accepted. But this was. But also to conclude on that, this wasn't the direct focus of this report. This report is mostly about implementation and best practice in this regard. But, of course, I think the field is much broader and other, hopefully, LST callers will pick up those aspects as well.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
okay do we have any more questions now otherwise we'll uh we'll come back to the to the panel and i can't see if we have any questions online okay so we have about 15 minutes left so i will come for a general question to uh each of our panelists so i'll come uh down the line in this direction so each in turn so the advisory body has developed recommendations which cover a wide variety of topics from uh deployment repair risk mitigation diversity uh all sorts of things so looking ahead um what do you consider to be the most the single most uh important priority for governments um and international organizations over the next five years to strengthen cable resilience and i'll come to Timothy first.
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Mr. Timothy Chin
I was going to say you might want to start from the other side this time around, but I'm happy to take this one first. Actually, Professor Maximiliano has excellent soundbites. I think Thomas said this earlier in the IAB meeting. I'm going to borrow something that she mentioned earlier in her opening remarks about how all the groups I think you mentioned, and I would include industry in that as well, all of us have a role to play in implementing this. I'm going to set aside the specific recommendations in the IAB report. I think they're critical. They're important. They do need to be implemented. But if we sort of take a little step back and think about what each of the main players actually can and ought to do best, and I think that is that critical sort of immediate first step in terms of implementation, identifying what governments, industry, and international organizations like the ITU, and I would include, I suppose, ICP, you have the luxury of either industry. or international organization to pick from. Maybe you should do all of it. From our perspective, I think, from Singapore's perspective, governments, and this is something that Minister Tijani mentioned earlier as well, that coordination within the government. At the end of the day, when you are working with partners who are outside government, whether they're citizens, whether they are businesses, your ecosystem and all of that, they're not going to see one regulator, one ministry, another ministry, a different regulator in another area. We're all part of the same government at the end of the day. So I think it's incumbent on governments to first and foremost, try and be as coordinated as we can amongst ourselves and bring that coordination, how we interact with the public sector, with the private sector as well. And that involves integrating both your regulatory needs as well as your business economic needs into your policies, into your regulatory framework as well. From industry, I think the most important thing is for industry to do what it is best. That continue to innovate, bring new solutions, bring new technologies to bear that can enhance areas like submarine cable resilience, for example. But also I think ensure that from an industry lens, develop capability in your partners as well. For example, in terms of repair capacity, repair capability, technology in repair vessels, and so on and so forth. And of course, industry does also need to be open in terms of cooperating and partnering with governments as well in terms of subsea cable residents. And finally, we come to the role of international organizations, slightly different but no less important here. And I think the International Advisory Board and its report actually demonstrate some of the key roles that international organizations can play. Number one, awareness building around issues. Tied very closely to that, advocacy for these issues. And third, and perhaps all equally important, bringing to bear their convening power. Getting the right people into the right room to have the right conversations about some of this issues.
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Ms. Athena Jun Xian
Thank you IAB's hard work bring all expertise from government industrial stakeholders and also international organizations I think centered on enhancing submarine cable resilience it's already developed a full set of measures and policy guidelines which fully reflect the shared aspiration of all parties to jointly build a safe, reliable and inclusive global submarine cable network. Looking ahead to the next five years, I think from carriers' point of view or the industry point of view, our top priority, it must be to encourage all government and industrial enterprises worldwide to actively adopt and fully implement all the guiding recommendations put forward. by IAB. Only through concrete implementation and deep and pragmatic cooperation between government and industry can we break down geographical, industrial and regulatory barriers, fundamentally resolve pain points such as lengthy approval timelines, insufficient geographic diversity and imbalanced regional resources, and systematically strengthen the resilience of the global submarine cable network. I think this is the most priority. Thank you.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
hank you. And Sandra?
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Prof. Sandra Maximiano
So, as I said actually earlier today, I think what is really, really important now is to move to implementation. And for that we need willingness and commitment from all of us to harsh this goal. And we should move from just the rhetoric to something that is really, really in practice. So, we need investment. For that we really need investment. And we need investment. And not only more. deploying more cables in repair capacity, but capacity building also in terms of having the right people in the right places, and this was mentioned here, and it's extremely important. We need better governance and greater regulatory certainty. I think this is extremely necessary. And specifically about regulatory certainty, when we have effective regulation, it doesn't mean that we are creating additional obligations. It means that we are providing clarity, predictability, and cooperation through the entire lifecycle of submarine cable systems, and this is extremely, extremely important. So also we need more harmonized protocols, regulatory harmonization across jurisdictions. So that makes it more simple. And less fragmented. and complex. So I would say as a regulator, this is one of the key points for us. And as I said earlier and again today, I think we should invest in keeping this multi -stakeholder model alive and strengthen it and to have a very successful implementation of the recommendations.
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Mr. John Mills
And from your original question, I focused on what can government do better. Like Timothy and Sandra, I think part of a lot of it is information sharing and communication of priorities. I would suggest probably industry probably knows the details better. Than government, because it's their job to maintain the continuity of operations. So it's their business to know when it came from where and how to. repair it in the fastest time possible. And that's a different priority than governments, because government, we want to know, we want to realize, we also want to communicate back what are the, because industry may not realize or understand government priorities. So that's important for us to communicate priorities. Also, governments are more concerned about cause, legal accountability, and I think that's a key part of this, is legal accountability for these breaks and those should be investigated in transparent processes where there's due process. So I think that's where government, what government can do and should do to contribute value to this, because we want these secure environment, trusted environment, but industry has to be unleashed to innovate and make money at the same time. T
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Mr. John Wrottesley
Thank you, John. And Sangbu, please.
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Mr. Sangbu Kim
So Sandra's and John's points resonate a lot, how we can really collectively do something to enhance and improve the situations. But again, I really agree that this is now implementation mode rather than just planning or just documentation mode. So real action and implementation is a crucial part. From the international development of financing institution perspective like us and World Bank, we are going to invest more and consider more resilient approach for submarine cable. Definitely, we have been investing in this space a lot, even in Africa, especially in West Africa through West African integration program. And then also individually in Togo and by bringing some more, not only just broadband financing support, but also embracing and attracting more private sector participation. That is a very crucial part. But my last point is that some clarification of roles and responsibility among each party is also very important. Government, the DFI like us, and private sectors. From the government perspective, definitely adopting clear national regional strategy and implementation will be really important, which requires geographic diversity consideration and multiple landing points consideration and open access policy. Pro -competition regime with so many policies of power is a crucial part, as you know. From DFI perspective, supporting country diagnosis. their own vulnerability, structural constraints and design the bankable and resilient project from the beginning and considering some regulatory and security practical conditions from the product design is really part. From the private operator perspective, integrating resilience into their commercial model is really important. If they cannot really fully embrace this safe and resilient measures from the beginning in their commercial model, we have to keep pushing back and keep saying to the private sector that it is not the right model. Even it is so bad for their commercial viability. So some kind of consensus and some more discussion along with the private sector also will be the crucial part for the future.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
And then to conclude, Minister, please.
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H.E. Dr. Bosun Tijani
Thank you so much. I think for me, I'll build on the shared interest in us moving from paper to practice and I'll situate that around what I think government and organizations like ITU should be doing. I think typically the government's role is not to control what businesses does. Ours is to make sure that we put the right enabling environment in place to allow for businesses to operate. And I think rules and policies guide that. It may be as simple as a coordination that exists in Singapore, right, if government is not been proactive with ensuring that that coordination is in place, there's significant implication. I remember the last cable that came to West Africa. The companies were really worried about how long it was going to take for them to land at the cable. Because in Nigeria, they had to go to multiple agencies to get different clearance. But because they came to our ministry first, we got a clearance from the president for everybody to align. And it took them less time than it would have taken in the history of cable landing in the country. And you know how this works. For every day they spend, it's cost. And that's the role of government. There's no world where government will look away from this, whether it's in landing or in repair or in redundancy. In fact, it's going to cost the businesses more if government is totally not in the loop. We know that. And the ships that will need to get on water and the clearance they need to get to be able to do so. whether it's in building shared capacity in terms of talent so I think government needs to take action and what I believe is that even as we move forward every nation should have a clear plan on the role of government, it's not government stepping into the business side of this work but government should be clear on their role and ITU should support government to be able to take the right action because they do need that support to take the right action, to put the right protocols in place and that's the way government will then position their nations for more investment is the way government, just like we do with CNI, we do critical national infrastructure and all the companies are excited about it. When the president in Nigeria declared telecommunications infrastructure I think last year at CNI in less than six months we saw over one billion dollars of investment by the private companies. But now we're talking about even terrestrial infrastructure How do we keep them safe? The companies can't do it on their own They still come to government and say How do you use the security agencies to help us ensure That there's repercussions How do you use laws? When we put all these things in place The companies benefit But the society also benefits And that clarity in the role of government We must ensure it's there We can't be soft about it Because if we're soft about it It's the businesses and society that will suffer Government must come to the table Government must be clear about its role And governments must play their role.
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Mr. John Wrottesley
Thank you, so that nicely concludes the remarks from our panelist, so please join me in a round of applause. And I will hand back to Thomas for some closing remarks.
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Mr. Tomas Lamanauskas
So thank you very much, John. Indeed, thank you for my show of panelists, which demonstrated Chalmeshik expertise is there and that we kind of know what to do, but now it's about doing it. And again, the reminder, and John gave me this drop, is indeed you think all these submarine cables are something big and all very protective because we're so dependent on that. And then you realize they're pretty thin. They're very long, but they're pretty thin. So it doesn't take much, you would think, to break it. And I think that's why we need to protect them because that's what our economies and societies really depend on. And it's really great to have now to conclude that part of that work where I think Sandra said today, again, I'm sorry for quoting you so much, but you said today, like, as a professor, you can't imagine writing the paper with 10 book authors, no? Well, this paper was written with 42 EAB members together with 175 people in the working groups, and they all had to agree with everything that was in the document. So basically... more than 200 people co -wrote that paper. So it's not something, you know, there's really rich, rich, rich expertise there that now we need to implement. So thank you very much again, everyone. So, but just the last thing what I really had to say is that we started in WSIS Forum two years ago. It was Minister Tijani, Professor Maximiano, John and I on that panel. And it's very apt to close that now with a concrete deliverable and hopefully setting the stage for now really important implementation stage. Thank you very much. Have a great afternoon and see you now on the implementation side.

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