Dunant might not be the fastest for long: Japanese tech giant NEC says
it has technology that will enable long-distance undersea cables with 16
fiber-optic pairs. And Vijay Vusirikala, head of network architecture
and optical engineering at Google, says the company is already
contemplating 24-pair cables.
The surge in intercontinental cables, and their increasing capacity,
reflect continual growth in internet traffic. They enable activists to
livestream protests to distant countries, help companies buy and sell
products around the world, and facilitate international romances. "Many
people still believe international telecommunications are conducted by
satellite," says NEC executive Atsushi Kuwahara. "That was true in 1980,
but nowadays, 99 percent of international telecommunications is
submarine."
So much capacity is being added that, for the moment, it's outstripping
demand. Animations featured in a recent New York Times article
illustrated the exploding number of undersea cables since 1989. That
growth is continuing. Alan Mauldin of the research firm Telegeography
says only about 30 percent of the potential capacity of major undersea
cable routes is currently in use—and more than 60 new cables are planned
to enter service by 2021. That summons memories of the 1990s Dotcom
Bubble, when telecoms buried far more fiber in both the ground and the
ocean than they would need for years to come.
