From Telecoms to Tech Companies: The Shift Driving the Subsea Cable Boom

The exchange of data in the blink of an eye has become a given in much of the world, and yet we rarely pause to think about what makes it all possible: a complex global network of cables in the depths of the ocean that silently connects us. Around 99 percent of intercontinental internet traffic travels through these undersea fibre-optic cables. Not satellites, not some ethereal “cloud” floating above us. Cables. Physical, tangible lines of glass fibre that are laid across ocean floors by specialised ships. 

Relatively thin and roughly the width of a garden hose, these cables stretch for around 1.7 million kilometres – long enough to wrap around the Earth several times. So, when you send a message from Nairobi to New York, or stream video from Singapore to São Paulo, the data almost certainly travels through one of these cables, and someone owns or operates every one of them. Yet over the past decade, we have seen a shift in ownership that has happened relatively quietly. 

Ownership Shift 

For most of the history of undersea cables, ownership followed a consortium model. Multiple telecommunications companies (often dozens, sometimes representing different countries) would jointly fund a cable, share its capacity, and operate it as something closer to a shared utility than a private asset. This model reflected the economic reality that undersea cables were expensive to build and maintain and were often most valuable when shared broadly across multiple users. However, that model is changing. Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft have become major owners, investors and users of undersea cable bandwidth around the world. Estimates suggest these four companies now own or lease roughly half of global undersea cable bandwidth, representing a significant shift from a decade ago when telecommunications consortia played a more dominant role. 

Boom in projects 

The shift from telecoms towards greater involvement from private technology companies in undersea cable ownership and investment is contributing to increased investment in new cable-lay projects. This transition has been driven by the increasing demand for data and the need for hyperscale cloud companies to have greater control over their own data flows. This has led to tech giants investing billions in the digital infrastructure that powers global internet connectivity. This change has not only increased investment in new submarine cable infrastructure but has also accelerated the development of new capacity to meet the growing demand for AI, cloud, and enterprise services. 

Tech Giants Take Control 

Meta’s involvement is particularly telling. The company has become one of the largest private investors in undersea cable infrastructure globally, marking a significant shift from previous consortium models.  

Meta previously co-invested in large projects like the 45,000-kilometre 2Africa cable project, which connects three continents and is one of the largest submarine cable networks. Although, it is not stopping there and is currently involved in additional privately led projects such as Project Waterworth: a 50,000-kilometre undersea cable system that will connect five continents, including the US, India, South Africa, and Brazil. This project aims to enhance data capacity and connectivity for data-intensive applications and will be the world’s longest underwater cable project when completed. 

Similarly google is equally joining the subsea cable race, with the company set to build three strategic subsea cables in Papua New Guinea under the Australia-PNG defence pact, as well as investing in the Faster cable, which connects the US to Japan. What is also interesting is that many newer cables, are becoming privately owned by Google, which has its own cables such as Dunant, Curie and Australia Connect Interlink. This again marks a shift away from the traditional consortium model and really homes in on the growing influence of Big Tech. 

Microsoft and Amazon have also made significant investments to support their cloud services. Amazon is building the Fastnet subsea cable, which will connect the U.S. and Ireland, marking its first private cable owned and invested in by Amazon Web Services. Microsoft has also jointly invested in a number of projects, such as the I-2SEA cable, which connects India with Malaysia and Singapore and is expected to be operational by late 2029. For our freelancers, this change in ownership and investment in subsea cables is contributing to increased activity across cable-lay projects, creating many opportunities across the offshore sector. 

Conclusion  

Over the past decade, we have seen a significant shift in the ownership of undersea cables, from a predominantly telecommunications-led model towards increasing ownership and investment from tech giants such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft. These companies now own or lease roughly half of global undersea cable bandwidth, highlighting the growing influence of Big Tech over the infrastructure that underpins global connectivity. With the increasing need for these companies to control their own data flows and meet the growing demand for AI, cloud and enterprise services, investment in new submarine cable infrastructure is accelerating. This ‘subsea cable race’ represents a significant development for the offshore industry and could create a growing number of opportunities for freelancers working across cable-lay and the wider subsea sector.