As world leaders gather at the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, urgent calls are mounting to elevate the protection and resilience of undersea telecommunications cables within the broader AI governance agenda. While much of the discussion centers on emerging AI risks, experts warn that these cables—responsible for transmitting nearly 99 percent of international data, including AI traffic—are critically vulnerable infrastructure demanding global regulatory attention.
What Happened
During the UNGA session, policymakers and digital governance stakeholders highlighted new insights from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Cable Protection Committee’s International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience. On July 10, the Advisory Body published a comprehensive report outlining 39 recommendations aimed at strengthening the deployment, operation, security, and rapid repair of undersea cables. These guidelines are designed to reduce the risk and impact of cable disruptions, which have been shown to significantly affect AI data flows and services.
This development comes amid rising global incidents of undersea cable damage, including natural events and suspected deliberate interference in strategic regions. Notable examples cited include a 2024 underwater landslide off Côte d’Ivoire that damaged four West African cables, causing multi-day internet outages across 13 countries. The situation was exacerbated by the limited regional repair capacity, with Africa’s only permanently stationed cable repair vessel, the Léon Thévenin, arriving weeks later.
Key Facts
The ITU Advisory Body’s report, although non-binding, sets out preventive and responsive measures covering streamlined permitting processes, enhanced coordination among stakeholders, and expanded access to repair resources. Its focus spans risk identification, monitoring, mitigation, and fostering geographic diversity to improve network redundancy.
Undersea cables are governed internationally by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which requires national legislation to penalize cable damage—a framework many affected countries have yet to fully implement. Nigeria serves as a notable example with its 2024 Critical National Information Infrastructure Order that designates cables as critical infrastructure and prescribes penalties for damage.
The vulnerability of these cables has geopolitical implications. The U.S. government cites the strategic risks posed by adversarial efforts to compromise undersea infrastructure, while Europe has intensified protections following suspected sabotage linked to Chinese-flagged ships in the Baltic Sea.
What This Means
The report underscores that safeguarding undersea cables is not merely a telecommunications issue but a fundamental element of AI governance and digital sovereignty. Disruptions to these cables can abruptly halt AI data exchange, interrupt training, and degrade service performance worldwide, with disproportionate impacts on regions with limited redundancy.
For ordinary internet users and AI-dependent services, this means that without robust protection and improved repair frameworks, outages caused by physical cable damage could become more frequent and prolonged. Moreover, increasing geopolitical tensions risk intentional disruptions becoming a new front in digital conflict, making undersea cable resilience a priority for national security as well as economic stability.
Addressing these challenges requires formal recognition of undersea cables as critical infrastructure across jurisdictions, implementation of legal protections aligned with UNCLOS, investment in repair capacities especially in underserved regions like Africa, and international cooperation to monitor and mitigate emerging threats.
Background
Undersea cables have long been the backbone of global telecommunications, but their susceptibility to damage from fishing, natural disasters, and potentially hostile acts has garnered renewed concern amid the exponential growth of AI and cloud computing. Industry and governments have recognized the need for coordinated resilience measures, with the ITU playing a central role in convening expert stakeholders and framing global best practices.
The July report by the International Advisory Body builds on a series of UN-related initiatives addressing digital infrastructure security and aims to provide a harmonized reference for countries seeking to bolster their national and regional cable networks.
What Remains Unclear
As the ITU report’s recommendations are non-binding, the extent to which governments, particularly in vulnerable regions, will adopt and implement these measures remains uncertain. The capacity of repair infrastructures, funding availability, and political will to enforce and update relevant national legislation, especially in developing countries, are still open questions.
What Comes Next
Key implementation milestones are pending as countries prepare to discuss digital infrastructure resilience more prominently during and after the UNGA 81 session. Progress will depend on follow-up actions by national governments and international bodies, and the continued diplomatic emphasis on integrating undersea cable protection into AI and cybersecurity policies.
Sources
This article is based on reporting and publicly available information from the following sources:
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