More than 99 per cent of international data traffic travels through submarine cables, a sprawling and largely invisible network that supports financial settlements, communications, and the basic infrastructure of digital commerce. A United Nations-backed advisory body has now approved its final report setting out a framework to improve how that infrastructure is protected, repaired, and expanded.
The International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience, convened jointly by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), was established in 2024 and completed a two-year work programme this week at the ITU WSIS Forum in Geneva. The report identifies a cluster of persistent vulnerabilities: high exposure to physical damage from shipping activity and natural hazards, lengthening repair timelines, geographic concentration of landing points, and the particular exposure of small island developing states and least-developed countries that depend on a small number of cable systems.
The recommendations span three areas: improving the speed of cable deployment and repair, strengthening risk identification and monitoring, and increasing route diversity and geographic coverage. On the policy side, the body calls for streamlining regulatory and permitting processes, which have become a bottleneck in several jurisdictions, and for stronger coordination between governments and the cable industry on preparedness and response.
"The world relies on connectivity, and thanks to the International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience, we now have a practical roadmap to keep undersea networks reliable," said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General. "These reports reflect a shared commitment across governments, industry, international organizations, academia and other stakeholders to safeguard this critical infrastructure that serves us all."
Sandra Maximiano, Chairwoman of Portugal's ANACOM and Co-Chair of the Advisory Body, described the body's trajectory: "What began two years ago as a debate has grown into a global movement. The Advisory Body and its outcomes show that, when diverse stakeholders come together with a shared purpose, global challenges can be transformed into shared solutions. Our task now is clear: to turn cooperation into lasting resilience for the infrastructure that keeps the world connected. Our legacy will be measured by the resilience the adopted recommendations help build into the world's digital infrastructure for decades to come."
H.E. Bosun Tijani, Nigeria's Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and a Co-Chair of the body, framed the stakes: "Submarine cables are the invisible infrastructure that powers our connected world, carrying the vast majority of global data traffic and underpinning everything from digital commerce and financial services to healthcare, education and government operations. The recommendations adopted by the International Advisory Body represent an important milestone in strengthening the resilience of this critical infrastructure through greater international cooperation, practical policy guidance, and shared responsibility."
The ICPC counts more than 270 member organisations across 75 countries. The Advisory Body's final meeting on 10 July coincided with the AI for Good Global Summit and the first UN-mandated Global Dialogue on AI Governance, a convergence that reflected how tightly digital infrastructure policy and emerging technology governance have become entangled.
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