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Summary
Subsea cables carrying India's data face damage risk in a volatile region. While a total blackout is unlikely, rerouting traffic could lead to noticeable delays for users and businesses across the country.
Amid the US-Israel war with Iran, concerns are growing about the safety of subsea cables in West Asia—the hidden network that carries most of the world’s internet. A large part of India’s data travels through these cables, many of which pass through regions now at risk of conflict. What happens if they are damaged?
For everyday users, the internet is unlikely to stop working entirely. But for telecom and internet companies that operate these cables, even temporary disruptions can be costly and complicated, affecting traffic management, repair schedules, and service quality. The networks can still function, but companies may need to reroute data to alternative routes.
How exposed is India’s internet to West Asia?
The industry estimates that about 60% of India’s internet traffic goes through cables that land in Mumbai and pass through West Asia on their way to Europe, specifically passing through highly vulnerable choke points such as the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. The rest goes through Chennai and travels east, via Singapore and the Pacific.
This means a majority of India’s internet is linked to a region that now faces geopolitical tensions. While the Red Sea has always faced cable cuts, the war and the threat by Iran to damage cable infrastructure, as per media reports, has escalated tensions.
If subsea cables are hit, will users lose internet access?
About 17 submarine cables pass through the Red Sea, carrying the vast majority of data traffic between Europe, Asia and Africa. A complete blackout is unlikely. That’s because the internet doesn’t depend on a single route. It works more like a network of roads—if one is blocked, traffic can move through another.
“It is not as if the internet will ever be shut down but it could get slowed down,” said Amajit Gupta, group chief executive and managing director at network infrastructure provider Lightstorm Telecom Connectivity Pvt. Ltd. “If this choking continues to happen over a period of time and the traffic on the internet continues to grow over a period of time then at a certain point the choke effect will be much more visible.”
According to Gupta, the operators usually reroute internet traffic and direct them to go through the eastern coast, but additional capacity needs to be added there.
What exactly happens if the cables are damaged and traffic is rerouted?
When traffic is pushed onto fewer routes, those routes can get crowded. This can lead to slower speeds and delays.
If repairing these cables takes long, users may notice videos taking time to load, slower downloads and uploads, apps responding with a slight delay, and most importantly, enterprises such as global capability centres working in a delayed or slow manner due to possible outages.
If the problem persists, this pressure can build up and make the internet feel noticeably sluggish.
How is the war affecting companies laying subsea cables?
Even as ongoing subsea cable projects get stalled, a huge concern is the hindrance to repair and maintenance of the existing infrastructure. Subsea cables carry over 95% of global data traffic. Fixing these cables is not easy, even in normal times. It can take weeks to find a problem under the sea, send a repair ship, and fix the cable. During a war, it becomes much harder.
On 13 March, Bloomberg reported that Meta Platforms has paused part of a massive effort to expand its 2Africa subsea network as the war freezes activity in the region. At the centre of this risk are Indian operators such as Airtel and Tata Communications, which depend on key cables like SEA-ME-WE 4, SEA-ME-WE 5, IMEWE and FALCON to carry data between India and other parts of the world. Any damage or disruption to these cables could slow down internet services and affect connectivity.
What can be done to make the system more resilient?
India hosts 17 international subsea cables across 14 cable landing stations (CLS). In the long run, India needs to reduce its dependence on risky regions. This could mean building new cable routes that avoid West Asia, adding more landing points along the coast, and developing its own repair capability. But these are expensive projects that will take time.
As pointed out by Macquarie Equity Research in a note dated 16 March, for Airtel the key risk is route concentration, particularly via the Red Sea, prompting a strategic push towards alternative paths. Some upcoming undersea cable projects avoid high-risk zones.
The 'W-shaped' cable by Meta's Project Waterworth bypasses the Red Sea and high-risk conflict zones (South China Sea, Straits of Malacca near Malaysia), creating a more 'resilient' network, connecting the US, Brazil, India and South Africa with landing points in Mumbai and Vizag, an important milestone for India's digital infrastructure, Macquarie said.
Are there risks within India?
Yes. Most subsea cables land at two places in the country—Mumbai and Chennai. This creates a weak point. If something goes wrong at either location, such as a natural disaster or a technical failure, it could affect a large portion of the country’s connectivity. India has a long coastline, but not enough landing points. Adding more could reduce risk, but they would also need new cables to be useful.
English (US) ·