Global submarine cable systems-sustainable growth or stagnation

The concept of the information superhighway was based on a global undersea optical fibre cable backbone. Successive technological breakthroughs in the area of optical fibres, optical amplification and switching, wavelength-division multiplexing and photonics has brought us to present day mind boggling telecommunications system capacities. What is important to note is that with the advent of photonics switching, telecos can now configure telecommunications networks in the sea in the same way as terrestrial systems. The submarine cable originated as a link between 2 points on land across water. In the days of the submarine telegraph cable, management of the system was by an enterprise of a specific country that owned and operated it, thereby receiving most of the traffic revenue generated. With the construction of international submarine cable systems, however, the management structure has seen a change from a multinational consortium to an international cable company. This work traces the various international project management structures developed for global submarine cable systems and is a help to those looking forward for new directions in submarine cable network development.