The {{count}} telecommunication cables of the world — length, entry into service, owners and landing points
The network of submarine telecommunications cables: the optical fibres laid on the ocean floor that carry almost all intercontinental internet traffic. Satellites, contrary to a widespread belief, carry only a marginal share. Each cable is described by its length, year of entry into service, owners and landing points.
Routes, landing points and technical records from TeleGeography (Submarine Cable Map), the industry reference. One essential point: the published routes are SCHEMATIC. The exact cable path is an industrial secret that no open source provides — the map draws a network, not a laying plan. Lengths and dates, by contrast, come from the operators. Cables planned or under construction are shown as dashed lines.
It is the landing points, more than the routes, that make the geopolitics of the network: a few chokepoints — the Red Sea, the approaches to Egypt, the Strait of Malacca, the English Channel — concentrate a considerable number of cables, and damage there has continental effects.
Ownership has changed in nature within a decade: once financed by consortia of telecom operators, cables are now largely funded by Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft, which directly own a growing share of transatlantic and transpacific capacity. Breaks are frequent — more than a hundred a year — and most often accidental: anchors and trawlers, not sabotage.