ITU urges proactive approach, more cooperation to mitigate subsea cable risks

Details: John Tanner; Category: Regulation; 13 July 2026; 2065 views

The ITU’s advisory body on subsea cable resilience issued its final report on Friday, adding climate change to the list of subsea cable risks, highlighting the vulnerability of developing countries to outages, and recommending a proactive approach and greater stakeholder cooperation.

The report, issued by the International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience, is the product of three working groups formed under the advisory body in February 2025 to focus on timely deployment and repair; risk identification, monitoring and mitigation; and fostering connectivity and geographical diversity.

The detailed, 168-page report reiterated the challenges faced by subsea cable networks, including high exposure to physical risks, increased time needed for repair, geographical concentration of infrastructure, and high dependence of many countries on a small number of cable systems – particularly small island developing states (SIDS), least developed countries (LDCs) and other underserved regions.

The report also found that changing weather patterns and environmental conditions are increasingly shaping the risk environment for subsea cables: “Long-term resilience strategies must integrate climate risk assessments, environmentally responsible deployment practices and adaptive infrastructure planning.”

Key recommendations from the working groups include strengthened coordination between public authorities and private sector operators to streamline deployments, protect infrastructure and respond more quickly to outages.

“Opportunities exist for governments to improve regulatory efficiency through clearer procedures, improved inter-agency coordination, and more predictable permitting frameworks,” the report said.

Also, this requires a proactive approach to risk management, the report added. “Advances in monitoring technologies, improved data sharing, enhanced seabed mapping and better reporting of cable incidents can help stakeholders anticipate risks and respond more effectively.”

The report also recommends promoting greater route diversity and redundancy in global cable networks, supporting investment and financing mechanisms for resilient infrastructure, and strengthening the protection of subsea cable infrastructure within broader critical infrastructure frameworks.

The advisory body further recommends supporting investment and financing mechanisms for resilient infrastructure, building capacity and technical expertise, particularly in developing countries and vulnerable regions.

“Targeted policy support, innovative financing models, regional cooperation and capacity-building initiatives are essential” to addressing the needs of LDCs and SIDs, the report said.

The International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience was established in December 2024 by the ITU, the United Nations Agency for Digital Technologies, and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) to tackle the issue of subsea cable resilience in the wake of network outages that have plagued countries around the world.

“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,” said Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and co-chair of the advisory body, in a statement issued Friday. “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.”

“Our task now is clear: to turn cooperation into lasting resilience for the infrastructure that keeps the world connected,” added Sandra Maximiano, chairwoman of Portugal's ANACOM and co-chair of the advisory body. “Our legacy will be measured by the resilience the adopted recommendations help build into the world's digital infrastructure for decades to come.”