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posted by janrinok on Wednesday March 05 2014, @04:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the If-you-laid-all-the-cables-end-to-end dept.

dotdotdot writes:

"All of the fiber-optic cables buried in the sea bed are logged by Washington research firm Telegeography in an interactive Submarine Cable Map. The company's research director Alan Mauldin told CNN about the world's underwater networks."

From the interview:

for international communications, over 99% is delivered by undersea cables.

75% of faults are due to external aggression the majority through human activity such as fishing, and ship's anchors.

There are about 13 cables in service across the Atlantic, and less than 20% of potential capacity is what we call "lit" or in service right now.

cables are designed to last for a minimum 25 years.

Once you build a cable the cost of buying capacity incrementally over time is very affordable.

The last cable across the Pacific cost $300 million; one cable that entered service last year in Asia reaching many locations cost $400 million

 
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  • (Score: 1) by bob_super on Wednesday March 05 2014, @07:22PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @07:22PM (#11475)

    Three words: Digging is expensive.

    Someone did the math, and the occasional "anchor" disruption is a lot cheaper than a continuous right-of-way on land (including crossing rivers and mountains), where the pesky humans may cause cheaper but more frequent cuts anyway.