Wed Mar 26 17:51:59 UTC 2025: **India Needs Major Undersea Cable Upgrade, Experts Warn**
NEW DELHI – India needs a significant expansion of its undersea cable infrastructure to handle the growing volume of international internet and telecom traffic, experts warned on Wednesday. Aruna Sundararajan, former Union Secretary of Electronics and Information Technology and chairperson of the Broadband India Forum (BIF), stated that India’s current share of global subsea cable landing stations is a mere 1%, urging a tenfold increase in landing stations and a four- to fivefold capacity boost.
Concerns were also raised about the vulnerability of existing infrastructure. Sonia Jorge of the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership advocated for “cable protection zones” to safeguard coastal cables from damage, while Amajit Gupta of Lightstorm highlighted that at least 11 of the 17 cables landing in India are nearing the end of their economic lifespan. He further pointed out the concentration of cables in a small area of Mumbai, creating a single point of failure.
The experts emphasized the risk of relying on geographically constrained cable routes. Gupta warned that incidents in the Red Sea, such as the Houthi rebel attack two years ago, can severely impact India’s bandwidth, and stressed the need for redundancy and diversification. The vulnerability of the Malacca Strait, another crucial cable chokepoint, was also highlighted. The experts’ warnings underscore the urgent need for India to invest in expanding and securing its undersea cable network to support its growing digital economy.
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