Who owns undersea fiber cables?

It is well-known that most of the internet′s traffic travels between continents underwater, However, We don′t know exactly who owns these telecommunications infrastructures, so I am going to talk about the main and new players of these deployments.

We can imagine that some of the big telecommunications companies such as ZTT, Huawei or Corning own some of these cables but there are also other new investors who are known worldwide to have other kind of business like social networks or operative systems for computers, having new players in the game is just a sign that this market is going to grow up hugely, actually the global submarine cable system market is expected to grow from $14.40 billion in 2021 to $16.15 billion in 2022. The growth is mainly due to the companies resuming their operations and adapting to the new normal while recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $26.10 billion in 2026.

These new players and their current projects are:

Amazon

• Havfrue?(major capacity buyer)
• Hawaiki?(major capacity buyer)
• JUPITER?(part owner)
• MAREA?(major capacity buyer)
• CAP-1?(part owner)

Meta

• 2Africa?(part owner)
• AEC-1?(major capacity buyer)
• Amitie?(part owner)
• Apricot?(part owner)
• Asia Pacific Gateway (APG)?(part owner)
• Bifrost?(part owner)
• Echo?(part owner)
• Havfrue?(part owner)
• Havhingsten/CeltixConnect-2?(part owner)
• Havhingsten/North Sea Connect?(part owner)
• JUPITER?(part owner)
• Malbec?(part owner)
• MAREA?(part owner)
• CAP-1?(part owner)
• Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN)?(part owner)
• Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 (SJC2)?(part owner)

Google

• Apricot?(part owner)
• Blue?(part owner)
• Curie?(sole owner)
• Dunant?(sole owner)
• Echo?(part owner)
• Equiano?(sole owner)
• FASTER?(part owner)
• Firmina?(sole owner)
• Grace Hopper?(sole owner)
• Havfrue?(part owner)
• INDIGO-Central?(part owner)
• INDIGO-West?(part owner)
• Japan-Guam-Australia South (JGA-S)?(part owner)
• Junior?(sole owner)
• Monet?(part owner)
• Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN)?(part owner)
• Raman?(part owner)
• Southeast Asia-Japan Cable (SJC)?(part owner)
• Tannat?(part owner)
• Unity?(part owner)

Microsoft

• AEC-1?(major capacity buyer)
• Amitie?(part owner)
• EXA Express?(major capacity buyer)
• MAREA?(part owner)
• New Cross Pacific (NCP) Cable System?(part owner)

We all know these companies because the majority of people use at least one of their platforms or services, as We are able to see some of these current projects are going to be developed by holdings that involve two or more of these mentioned companies. If We analyze deep enough the services that these companies offer are mainly "In the cloud" although I must conclude that the cloud is actually located in the sea (literally) and It will remain the same for the upcoming years till We discover another way to transmit data, when We accomplish that It would have to be more efficient and sustainable.

It is not just about owning the data, It is also about owning the infrastructure. This says that the main business is about transporting information and it is not just a trend, it is a reality for the future.