EU member states should invest more in upgrading the undersea infrastructure of Internet cables. This should better ensure the security of this critical infrastructure, states a soon to be presented proposal from the European Commission.
According to the proposal, seen by Politico, the EU should significantly upgrade the infrastructure of undersea internet cables. It mainly concerns the protection of this strategically crucial infrastructure, which is said to have deteriorated significantly in recent times and is therefore high risk.
Undersea cables are the foundation for international internet traffic. In Europe, several energy and internet cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged in 2023. This might have been brought about by deliberate actions of the Chinese container ship Newnew Polar Bear.
There is also increasingly high Russian submarine activity off the western coast of Ireland, where several important transatlantic Internet cables run.
Tip: The EU wants to supply the world with undersea internet cables
Roadmap for upgrading security
In the EC’s proposal, the EU body calls on member states to invest more in protecting this undersea cable infrastructure. To this end, a roadmap is presented to identify the risks to the existing cable infrastructure and to encourage member state governments to upgrade the security provisions for this. There is talk of the possible need to regulate this at the “military level”. Member states should also conduct so-called “stress tests” on a regular basis.
Public and private funding
Member states can achieve these upgrades with a mixture of regulated state aid and so-called Cable Projects of European Interest (CPEIs). The latter are public-private investment projects with more lenient conditions. The EU itself cannot finance the upgrades.
More specifically, funding for the security upgrade of Europe’s undersea Internet cable network must come from the European Investment Bank, national investment banks, other public financing bodies and, of course, private lenders, investors and investment companies.
The EC’s proposal is expected to be officially presented this week.
Read also: First leg of Google’s massive undersea cable project reaches Togo
18 hours ago
