Global information economy made possible by network of underseas cables

Many people around the world believe that their emails and phone messages are being sent through satellites. They are mistaken because satellites account for less than 5%.¹ Global telecommunications development began about 150 years ago with the first commercial international submarine cable, laid between Dover, England and Calais, France in 1850. In 1858, the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable linked London with the new world, via Newfoundland.² The 143 words transmitted in 10 hours, replaced a one-way dispatch that would have previously taken about 12 days.³

In the last 25 years, there has been a stunning growth in undersea cables because of the communications revolution triggered by the internet. Undersea cables account for 95% of the world’s international voice and data traffic (Military, Government, Emergency Response, Air Traffic Control, Subway, Rail, and Port Traffic).⁴ Financial markets utilize undersea cables to transfer trillions of dollars every day. In 2004 alone, nine million messages and approximately $7.4 trillion a day was traded on cables transmitting data between 208 countries.⁵ As a result, submarine (undersea) cables are vital infrastructure to the global economy and the world's communication system.