Submarine Cables Overview

The submarine cables installed before the 1859s had met failure due to various reasons such as poor quality of insulation to destruction by fishing boats.  Scientific advances and technological development have since then improved the materials used in submarine cables as well as the information transmission capacity and quality.  Today, submarine cables are the leading means of communication across the oceans and consist of copper wires and fibre optic as transmission media.

Many of the coaxial cables for telephone utilizing copper as transmission medium were laid between 1950 and 1988 and a few are still in use.  Fibre optic cables are thinner than coaxial cables.  Although more expensive than copper, fibre optics have the following advantages:  immunity to electromagnetic interference, crosstalk, no electrical ground loop or short circuit problems and resistance to nuclear radiation and high temperature.  Moreover, fibre optics can carry much more information than copper wire of the same size.  Submarine cables with optical amplifiers can operate at speeds to 5 gigabits per second, and can be upgraded from lower speeds simply by changing terminal electronics such as switching to wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).

Submarine Cables Installation and Repair

Installation of cable needs to be well planned to minimize problems.  Submarine profile where the cable will be laid is obtained by careful route survey which includes obstacles and activities that might interfere or cause problems to the cables.  Specialized ships using Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) navigation carry out the installation of cables.  Some of the cable ships have remote operated vehicle (ROV) capability suitable for deep sea operations.  These ships can lay cables at speeds of about 15 km/hr in deep oceans at depths down to 7,000 m.

Fishing vessels and ship anchors are the main causes of cable damages either via compression, dragging or breakage.  Fishing vessels cause the damage or fault in more than 2/3 of all submarine cables.  If a cable is damaged, the resulting communication breaks interrupt telephone calls and data transmission.  Repair of submarine cables are expensive and difficult, especially in remote parts of the oceans.  Less than 20% of all repairs were in the deep ocean where the intrinsic faults of the cable system are the major factor influencing overall system reliability.  Shallow water repairs at depths less than 1,000 m are due to fishing and anchors.  Generally, cables are not installed in sea areas where deep sea vessels anchor or where fishing activities are intense.  If it is necessary to do so, submarine cables are usually buried to a depth of 1 meter.  In order to avoid damaging the submarine cables, cable awareness charts are issued to fishermen and other seabed users free of charge.  Location of cables is also included in electronic navigational charts in addition to organizing awareness campaigns.  Owners of the cables generally spearhead such awareness programmes.

Cable ships are on standby to deal with the repair of damaged cables as well as installation of new or repaired cables.  The cables are organized into 6 regions as follows:

1a	United Kingdom and North Sea
1b	Baltic and Skagerrak
2	Mediterranean and Red Sea
3a	Atlantic
3b	Caribbean
4	Eastern Pacific
5a	Western Pacific, Far East and East Indian Ocean
5b	Australasian
6	Arabian Gulf, Arabian Sea and West Indian Ocean

Each region has its co-ordinator and relevant authorities and entities that look after the cables located within their area of operation.  Thus, any activities involving the cables in any particular region has to coordinate such activities with the relevant regional entities.  The International Cable Protection Committee maintains a cable database, particular those owned or developed by its members.

International Cable Protection Committee

The International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) was founded in 22 May 1958 in London by six cable owners as the Cable Damage Committee.  In 1967, it was changed to its present name. Currently, the ICPC has 79 member organizations representing submarine cable owners from 39 countries.  The Committee is administered by a Secretariat and funded by membership fees.  ICPC governing structure is composed of the total membership, which elects an Executive Committee responsible for management functions and the implementation of policies.
 

In the implementation of activities, international working groups are established according to geographical area.  Members co-operate closely with fishing, undersea mining, oil and gas, dredging, and other offshore industries utilising the seabed in an effort to reduce the number of incidents of damage to cables.  The Committee also funds projects and programmes which are beneficial for the protection of submarine cables.

The vision of the ICPC is to be the premier international submarine cable owners’ association, providing professional recommendations on issues related to submarine cable planning, installation, operation, maintenance and protection.

Among the activities of the Committee to realize its vision are:

•	Promoting the safeguarding of submarine telecommunications cables against human and natural hazards;
•	Serving as a forum for the exchange of technical and legal information pertaining to submarine cable protection methods and programmes;
•	Formulating strategies that enable the development of new or revised international treaties and national legislations to protect cable owners’ interests;
•	Monitoring the evolution of new or revised international treaties and national legislation to protect cable owners’ interests;
•	Co-operating closely with fishing, undersea mining, oil and gas dredging and other offshore industries utilizing the seabed to reduce the incidence of cable damage;
•	Producing a comprehensive range of recommendations that define the minimum standards for cable route planning, installation, operation, maintenance and protection;
•	Continuing development of a comprehensive cable fault database that allows detailed analysis of submarine cable failures and facilitates the identification of failure patterns;
•	Providing relevant information to prospective new cable owners to ensure industry standards are maintained;
•	Funding relevant industry projects and programmes which are beneficial for the protection of submarine cable systems;
•	Participating in fishing and offshore industry expositions, meetings and technical conferences.

Source:http://www.iscpc.org/