Pune: India’s dependence on infrastructure beneath the ocean is emerging as a critical resilience issue, with maritime experts calling for stronger monitoring of submarine cables and other underwater assets. Discussions in Pune have highlighted how disruptions to subsea networks could affect communications, digital services and economic activity, making the ocean floor an increasingly important part of India’s infrastructure planning.
Submarine fibre-optic cables carry the overwhelming majority of international internet and telecommunications traffic. The United Nations has described these systems as the backbone of global data infrastructure, while international industry data puts their share of global international communications traffic at about 99%. The concern is particularly relevant for India as data consumption, cloud services and digital commerce continue to expand. A cable fault can be caused by several factors, including fishing activity, shipping-related incidents, natural hazards and deliberate interference. The resulting disruption can create pressure on alternative routes and increase the importance of redundancy in national and regional networks. A maritime security discussion held in Pune examined the need to strengthen underwater domain awareness, a framework that combines information from underwater sensors, oceanographic research, maritime activity and other sources to build a clearer picture of what is happening below the surface.
The Maritime Research Center, a Pune-based not-for-profit research organisation, works across maritime security, marine environment, disaster management, blue economy and research. Its current research programme includes passive acoustic monitoring, which uses underwater sensors to track sound patterns, as well as marine spatial planning and climate-related risk management. The policy challenge extends beyond defence. Underwater infrastructure also supports economic systems that increasingly depend on uninterrupted digital connectivity. Banks, businesses, public services and households may all be indirectly exposed when international connectivity is disrupted. Experts have also stressed the need for stronger domestic research and technical skills. Building underwater awareness requires ocean mapping, acoustics, data analysis, marine science and engineering to work together rather than operate in isolated institutional silos.
There is an environmental dimension as well. Expanding surveillance and infrastructure in the marine environment must account for ecosystems and underwater noise. Research into human-generated underwater sound is increasingly examining its potential effects on marine species, making monitoring systems relevant to both infrastructure protection and ecological management. For India, the immediate task is therefore broader than protecting individual cables. Underwater infrastructure security needs to become part of long-term digital, coastal and climate-resilience planning. Better mapping, diversified connectivity routes, early-warning systems and coordinated response mechanisms could reduce the consequences of future failures. As India’s digital economy grows, resilience will increasingly depend on infrastructure that remains largely invisible to the public. The seabed may be out of sight, but its role in keeping cities, markets and essential services connected is becoming impossible to ignore.
