10 Top Undersea (Submarine) Internet Cable Companies

Undersea (submarine) internet cables are becoming more and more valued and relied upon. So much that the Australian government considers’ its submarine (underwater) cable systems to be “vital to the national economy”.

According to marketsandmarkets, the global undersea (submarine) cable system market size is expected to grow from USD 13.0 billion in 2020 to USD 22.0 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 11%.

Checkout: Top 10 Fiber Optic Cable Companies

Many telecom infrastructure companies have carried and are carrying out several projects to connect various part of the world using submarine cable systems. Currently, 99% of the data traffic that is crossing oceans is carried by undersea cables.

Here are the major undersea (submarine) internet cable companies:

1. Fujitsu Limited

Fujitsu Limited operates as an information and communication technology (ICT) company in japan and internationally. The company operates through Technology Solutions, Ubiquitous Solutions, and Device Solutions segments.

The Technology Solutions segment offers system integration services, including system construction and business applications; consulting services; front-end technologies comprising ATMs, point-of-sale systems, etc.; and outsourcing services, such as datacenters, ICT and application operation/management, SaaS, business process outsourcing, etc.

This segment also provides network services, such as business network, etc.; cloud services; system support services comprising maintenance and surveillance services for information systems and networks; and security solutions that include information systems and networks installation. In addition, it offers system products, such as servers, storage systems, and operating system and middleware software; and network management and optical transmission systems, and mobile phone base stations.

2. Huawei Marine Networks Co., Limited

Huawei Marine Networks Co. Ltd. (Huawei Marine) is a joint venture between the Chinese firm Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and the British company Global Marine Systems Limited established in Tianjin, China, in 2009 to provide international submarine cable network installation, solutions, services, and products services.

Huawei Marine solutions cover the entire project development, including business plan, design, integration and installation of systems, route study, training and maintenance, construction, and commissioning; as well as technical support and system upgrades (wave length, dark fiber, and SLTE), among others.  

3. Infinera Corporation

Infinera Corporation provides optical networking systems based on photonic integration technology in the United States. Its digital transport node (DTN) system utilizes the photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology to enable digital processing and management of data with the capability to generate wavelength division multiplexing wavelengths and to add, drop, switch, manage, protect, and restore network traffic digitally.

The company’s PICs transmit and receive 100 Gigabits per second of optical capacity and incorporate the functionality of approximately 60 discrete optical components into a pair of indium phosphide chips.

The DTN System is used to enable optical to electrical to optical conversions at every network access point to provide communications service providers with the ability to digitally process the information being transported across their optical networks.

It also offers a range of support offerings, including 24/7/365 hardware and software technical support, installation and deployment services, spares management, first line maintenance services, on-site technical services, professional services, product technical training, and extended product warranties.

The company offers its products to operators of optical networks, including telecom carriers, cable operators, and Internet or content service providers.

Infinera Corporation, formerly known as Zepton Networks, was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

4. NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation integrates computing and network technologies in Japan and internationally. The company operates in five segments: Public, Enterprise, Network Services, System Platform, and Global.

It provides systems integration services, such as systems implementation and consulting; maintenance and support services; outsourcing/cloud services; and system equipment.

The company also provides network infrastructure products, including core network products, mobile phone base stations, optical transmission systems, and routers/switches; wireless LAN routers; and enterprise network solutions comprising IP telephony systems, WAN/wireless access equipment, and LAN products.

In addition, it offers hardware products, such as servers, mainframes, supercomputers, storage products, business PCs, POS, ATMs, control equipment, and wireless LAN routers; software products, including integrated operation management, application servers, and security and database software; and maintenance services.

Further, the company provides software services for service providers consisting of operation support system/business support system, software-defined networking, and network functions virtualization; submarine systems comprising submarine cable and ocean observation systems; wireless backhaul solutions; displays and projectors; and energy storage solutions.

It serves aerospace, agriculture, aviation, broadcasting, government, hospitality, logistics, manufacturing, retail, telecom, and transportation industries.

The company was formerly known as Nippon Electric Company, Limited and changed its name to NEC Corporation in April 1983. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

5. Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH

NSW is a manufacturer of communications, submarine, overhead, power and offshore cables as well as engineering plastics and environmental products. For over 115 years, NSW has been committed to the expansion and improvement of communications.

The company serves customers all over the world.

6. Orange S.A

Orange S.A. provides a range of fixed telephony and mobile telecommunications, data transmission, and other value-added services to consumers, businesses, and other telecommunications operators in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

The company offers mobile services, such as voice, SMS, and data; fixed broadband and narrowband services, as well as fixed network business solutions, including voice and data; and convergence packages. It also sells mobile phones, broadband equipment, and connected objects and accessories.

In addition, the company provides IT and integration services comprising unified communication and collaboration services, such as LAN and telephony, consultancy, integration, and project management; hosting and infrastructure services, including cloud computing; customer relations management and other applications services; security services; and video conferencing, as well as sells related equipment.

Further, it offers national and international roaming services; and mobile virtual network operators, network sharing, and mobile financial services, as well as sells equipment to external distributors and brokers. Orange S.A. markets its products and services under the Orange brand.

Orange Marine a subsidiary of Orange S.A. is a major actor in the laying of new submarine communications cables and the maintenance of existing cables across the world’s oceans. The company is active in all areas of these activities, including the study (survey) and the shore ends. Orange Marine took control of Elettra (previously owned by Telecom Italia) on October 1, 2010, and now operates six cable ships – i.e. 15% of the world fleet.

The company was formerly known as France Telecom and changed its name to Orange S.A. in July 2013. Orange S.A. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

7. S. B. Submarine Systems Co., Ltd.

S. B. Submarine Systems (SBSS) is China’s leading provider of subsea cable installation services and one of the key submarine cable installers in Asia. Established in Shanghai in 1995 as a joint venture between China Comservice and Global Marine Systems Ltd of the UK, SBSS are a technology-driven marine installation company who own and operate a fleet of advanced, versatile and fully integrated cable ships.

Leveraging their cable handling experience and track record of delivery on many of the region’s key subsea infrastructure projects, they specialize in delivering innovative solutions to their four markets of Telecommunications, Oil and Gas, Power Utility and Renewable Energy.

As a company SBSS are focused on driving continuous development in both their project execution and the range and quality of service they are able to offer their clients. With this development in mind SBSS lead the field in subsea burial and trenching technology with specialized subsea systems capable of achieving burial protection of up to five metres and providing the security of assets required by their customers.

Their facilities include a secure cable storage depot, a cable jointing training school and ROV pilot training school, all strategically located in Shanghai to support their customers throughout Asia.

8. Seaborn Networks

Seaborn Networks is comprised of telecom executives who bring a successful track record in developing, financing, constructing, operating and maintaining many of the world’s largest submarine and terrestrial telecom networks.

Seaborn is the owner and operator of the Seabras-1 “submarine communications cable” between Brazil and the United States. Seabras-1 is fully operational (2017) and provides the first direct route between Sao Paulo, Brazil,and the United States.

The system has branching units installed on certain of its fiber pairs that point towards Virginia Beach (US), Miami (US), St. Croix (US), Fortaleza (Brazil), Cape Town (South Africa), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Brazil South. Seaborn’s ARBR subsea system (RFS Q2 2020) is a fully funded 4-fiber pair, 48Tbit/s system. ARBR will directly connect São Paulo, Brazil to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ARBR will connect to Seabras-1 in Seaborn’s Praia Grande CLS enabling the most direct, lower latency connection between Argentina and the USA.

Seabras-1 is the first direct point-to-point submarine cable system between the financial centers of the US and Brazil.

9. TE SubCom

TE SubCom (SubCom), a TE Connectivity Limited company, is an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology and marine services and a leading global supplier for today’s undersea communications requirements.

Drawing on its heritage of technical innovation and industry recognized performance, SubCom delivers the most reliable, high quality solutions to organizations with undersea communications needs vital to their core mission.

The company designs, manufactures and installs systems around the world, and has deployed more than 490,000km of subsea communication cable—or enough to circle the earth more than 12 times at the equator.

SubCom’s global presence, backed by industry leading research and development laboratories, manufacturing facilities, installation and maintenance ships, depots, and management team work together to implement integrated solutions and network upgrades, with unsurpassed reliability, that support the needs of telecommunications, internet providers, offshore and science customers worldwide.

10. Xtera Communications, Inc.

Xtera is a privately held network equipment and services company, and a leading provider of optical networks for terrestrial and subsea applications.

It is an innovative provider of subsea and telecoms technology.  The company supplies both unrepeatered and repeatered systems, using its high performance optical amplifiers to deliver traffic directly inland to cities and offering flexibility in working with selected partners to provide the optimum technical and commercial package.

Over the last year Xtera has succeeded in expanding its customer base and product portfolio in both existing and new markets. The AscenVision acquisition continues this strategic growth, extending Xtera’s product portfolio beyond the optical layer.