{
  "id": 14488224,
  "title": "Submarine Cable Resilience",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/submarine-cable-resilience",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-14T15:31:15.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hacker News",
    "slug": "hacker-news",
    "url": "https://blog.apnic.net/2026/10/14/submarine-cable-resilience/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Matsu Islands, an archipelago of 36 islands in the East China Sea, are administered by Taiwan and connected to the main island by two submarine cables, Taima No.2 and Taima No.3. These cables face risks from ship-based activities such as fishing equipment or anchors snagging them, and have experienced 27 cuts since 2018, with four major outages between 2023 and 2025. The Baltic Sea also has a number of submarine communication cables that have faced disruptions since 2023. Submarine cables, estimated at 1.5 million kilometers globally, are critical for telecommunications services and cannot be replaced by satellite systems if damaged or cut. This infrastructure is considered critical for global communication services. During World War I, Germany's submarine cables were cut by a British cable ship, forcing Germany to rely on wireless radio transmissions. This tactic was repeated by the British in 1939, severing German cables to Lisbon and New York. To defend against risks, submarine cables can be wrapped in additional layers of steel cable jacketing to protect against shipping accidents. These deep-sea cable segments are around 20mm in diameter, with just the inner components used in the segments laid on the deep-sea floor, including optical fibre and a single thin steel thread. Landing stations are typically located on coastal points with low maritime traffic and a steep rise from the deep-sea floor to minimize risks from coastal shipping activity. Cable routes should be as short as possible to minimize costs and signal delay, avoiding active geological areas and deeper areas where repairs are more challenging. Certain choke points, such as the Bab al-Mandab Strait, are critical for cable capacity and are vulnerable to disruptions.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}