Denese Sergeant, 15 May, 2024,
Cloud Analytika, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Caribbean
As we write this article now, one of the under-sea cables supplying the Internet from either North America or Europe to Africa has been cut off, BBC says 45 kilometers from the Durban shorelines in South Africa. Who cut it off? Nobody knows, since the detailed facts have not yet been released. BBC ruled out the possibility of sabotage. Even if it was sabotage anyway, could it have been sabotage by terrorists, Iran, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, US itself or even by Satellite internet developers seeking to discourage usage of under-sea cables and promote global satellite-to-satellite internet connections. As the engineers remain busy to restore the cut cable and the Internet across Africa[1], the general population’s dissatisfaction with the going poor connectivity of the Internet in Africa depicts how in the contemporary societies of the world, the Internet has become quite pivotal for determining how different activities are accomplished. Internet usage has become part and partial of life.
As the Internet connection remains quite poor and re-routed, even the poorest of the population are complaining that they are missing Arsenal/Man-U games as well as the associated betting that brings for them daily incomes. Others are complaining that it is difficult to get friends, colleagues, relatives, loved ones and other opportunities using different social media platforms like Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or TikTok.
These demonstrate how Internet has turned into an inseparable part of life to the extent that without the Internet, it can be difficult for different human activities to be accomplished. Just like the sports fans betting for different games, most of the doctors, nurses and various medical personnel in multitudes of different hospitals across the globe also rely on the Internet to get most of their various activities accomplished.
Ranging from the use of Internet to gather, compile and store medical records in the clouds, the Internet has also become part and partial of medical operation. Without Internet connectivity, it can become difficult to link and refer a patient in a critical medical condition from one rural healthcare facility to the regional referral hospital. The Internet is critical for improving the remote monitoring of the health conditions of the elderly and those with chronic health conditions.
These different forms of Internet uses in the accomplishment of different medical activities have led to the emergence of the notion of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). IoMT refer to a combination of smartly connected medical devices, machines, facilities and personnel which are interwoven together through the aid of the online computers and networks to enhance the accomplishment of different medical activities.[2]
Such medical activities may range from simple medical analysis and diagnosis of different diseases, remote monitoring and evaluation of sick patients or rescued accident victims who are on transit to the overall day-to-day assessment and management of the healthcare facilities which are scattered in different parts of the country or even the globe. It is not only in the medical domain that the Internet has become quite pivotal, but also in governance and military operations.
Whilst using internet connected devices, different government institutions like the police and administrators are able to constantly monitor and evaluate security risks that may emerge from different parts of the country. Through usage of the Internet supported devices like CCTV cameras, the government is able to easily monitor, identify and mitigate any security risks or incidents like unauthorised riots or criminal activities that can affect the safety and security of the country.
Using such similar approaches, Internet supported devices also help the effective monitoring and identification of enemy positions as well as the positions of different military personnel.[1] This improves the agility and swiftness of the military decision-making to adopt a more coordinated movement and action. Yet it is not just the governance and military spheres that illustrate how Internet has become a necessity in all spheres of life, but also in the education sector. In the education sector, the Internet has become quite central for improving the quality of the contents that are created and delivered at different levels of education.
It is through the Internet that different educational institutions have been able to minimise the costs of gathering, capturing, storage and retrieval of different information. The Internet has also become quite essential for delivering long distance education. For the candidates who are busy, the Internet has enabled education institutions to respond to such needs by developing and delivering remote education. In otherwords, the Internet is now part and partial of life. Internet is a necessity of which if it is not available even life may stop. Internet has become a necessity just like water and air.
However, unless it is taken away it is difficult for most people to realise that it is a necessity. If it is taken away that is when one realises that the Internet just like water or air, is a big necessity. But if the Internet has become a necessity, why do we rely on under-sea cables?
Vulnerability of Internet Under-Sea Cables
Despite the improvement in satellite technologies, the internet service providers still continue to rely on under-sea cables as the vehicles for delivering Internet connectivity across different continents. Under-sea cables are quite vulnerable for the reason that they can easily de disturbed and destroyed by under-sea creatures like sharks and bigger fish like Reef Manta Ray or Whales
Of course, precautions could have been undertaken to prevent such incidents, but still the laying of the cables under the sea without proper system for monitoring and identification of potential incidents that can disrupt Internet connectivity leaves the Internet supply system ingrained with a lot of risks. Different oceans of the world are increasingly attracting different innovative uses for recreational, leisure and entertainment or transportation and fishing purposes.
These imply that with time the Internet under-sea cables will become more susceptible to disruptions. Yet as commercial activities like shipment and transportation increase exponentially to cater for the constantly increasing needs and demands of the constantly increasing global population, increasing activities in different oceans also leave the Internet under-sea cables susceptible to different forms of unintended disruptions and interferences.
Unless new proactive approaches are adopted, it seems the world must prepare for periodic disruptions of internet connectivity for as long as the world continues to use the under-sea Internet cables. The cut under-sea cable disrupting the Internet connectivity to Africa is established to be situated just 45 kilometers from the Durban shoreline.
That implies it is either the intense activities of the docking ships or the recreational activities that could have interfered and cut the under-sea Internet cable. If interference with the Internet connectivity around the world will not arise from the increasing intensity of ocean activities, it could arise from political actions aimed at sabotaging communication in a particular continent or country.
The world is saying that it is preventing the risks of a third world war, but it seems we are already undergoing some form of a cold third world war. The third world war will not be fought like the first and second world wars, but in a different way using means like economic sabotage, technological sabotage and direct attacks and retaliations in which opponents agree with each other that there should be no further retaliations.
Now as the third world war takes such dimension, risks of cutting the under-sea Internet cables become quite eminent. Already empirical evidence indicates that Russia is jamming the GPS guided US precision weapons that were donated to the Ukrainian troops.
As this causes fire from the weapons to go off target or astray, it also demonstrates the extent to which the war that could have taken a nuking approach would instead opt for destruction of the under-sea Internet cables. So far trends from Yemen indicate that Yemen’s Houthi Movement cut off Internet undersea cables for Internet Providers like AAE-1, TGN, EIG and Seacom that link Europe with Asia. In effect, Jeff Huggins, the President of Cailabs US, which develops laser-based communications systems, lamented that:
“In recent weeks, fighters from Yemen’s Houthi movement have reportedly knocked out four of the Red Sea’s underwater communication cables between Saudi Arabia and Djibouti. The cables, which are thought to belong to the AAE-1, Seacom, EIG and TGN systems, are among those that connect Europe and Asia. Though there has been no official confirmation that the Houthis were responsible, the cable damage proves that undersea and land cables, which bring internet connectivity to millions and sometimes billions, are now considered infrastructure worthy of attack during times of conflict, and that alternative means of connectivity are increasingly vital.
Given the higher vulnerability of the undersea Internet cables, it implies the use of satellite to satellite connections would offer the alternatives to undersea cables as the most viable method for providing Internet connections to different continents. Satellite to satellite connections in the space can easily be monitored as compared to the undersea cables that pass through some remote parts of the world which are difficult to monitor and prevent destruction.
Satellite-to- Satellite Connectivity
Though Satellite using OGS (Optical Ground Station) network technology that requires straight line between the transmitting and receiving stations can also be affected by atmospheric turbulences like changes in wind, temperature and air pressure, recent technological advancement preserving laser quality in the midst of drastic atmospheric changes has improved the global faith in satellite to satellite internet connection technology.[1]
With these enormous business opportunities arising from the possibility of satellite technology to replace under-sea internet cables, Elon Musk being the Elon Musk who we all know responded by creating Starlink that has not only provided satellite based internet connection in Ukraine when the Russian forces destroyed the undersea cables, but also seamless internet connections in over 70 countries.
Though satellite internet technology is also criticized for relying on the traditional cables, it has so far proved more effective. However, the politics and war of satellite-internet technology is still an impediment. Most of the countries are still reluctant to adopt satellite internet technologies. Most of the countries argue that the satellite technologies may end up getting used as the spying gadgets for the superpowers.
Figure 2: Satellite Internet Technology
When Loon Internet Balloon Company of Google’s Alphabet approached several African and Asian governments for permission to fly the internet balloons in their airspaces, most of them rejected the idea for fear of compromising their national security. In addition, Loon also did not offer any explanations of how the internet balloons being flown in the airspaces would not compromise and affect the airspace usage by other commercial and non-commercial aircrafts.[1]
Though Google’s Alphabet closed Loon project for failure to craft and use a more cost-effective business model that would lower the cost of internet provision to different rural parts of the world[2], the Loon project still remains a foundational innovation idea that can be further explored, modified and improved in future to discern how to improve the efficiency of satellite technology to provide seamless uninterrupted internet connections across the world. Increasing competition in the satellite technology development space will definitely drive the improvement of the features and quality of internet technology.
As most of the countries fear to compromise their national security by granting the freedom to foreign satellite companies to use their airspace, most of the countries are increasingly dedicating enormous financial resources in the development of their own satellite technology. For fear that significant reliance on the American Space-X’s Starlink internet technology would be disastrous if compromised by enemy forces, the European Union in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA) is seeking to raise billions of euros to construct and operate IRIS.
IRIS is a new constellation of communication satellites which will provide secure high quality space connectivity across Europe.[1] Such improvement in satellite technology implies that even if under-sea internet cables are to remain in use atleast the satellite internet technology will offer backup in the event of compromises like in the case of the recent disruptions.
Author
Denese Sergeant is a Researcher and Analyst for Cloud Analytika, based in St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Caribbean. She focuses on evaluating and interpreting the Caribbean and Latin America’s Business and Technological Trends. E-mail: info@cloudanalytika.co.uk
