International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience – Report of the Working Groups
An ISOC LIVE Summary
Publication: International Telecommunication Union (ITU) / International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC)
Released: 10 July 2026
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in partnership with the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), published the final report of the International Advisory Body (IAB) on Submarine Cable Resilience, completing a two-year international effort involving governments, regulators, industry, international organizations, and academia. The report provides a practical framework for improving the resilience of the submarine cable systems that carry more than 99% of intercontinental Internet traffic and underpin global communications, finance, government services, cloud computing, healthcare, and education.
Why submarine cable resilience matters
The report identifies submarine telecommunications cables as critical infrastructure whose disruption can have immediate economic and societal consequences. While many cable faults result from accidental causes such as fishing activity, ship anchors, and natural hazards, the growing concentration of global traffic onto relatively few routes has increased the strategic importance of improving resilience.
The Working Groups identified several major challenges:
Continuing exposure to physical hazards, both natural and human-induced.
Increasing repair times in some regions due to permitting delays, regulatory complexity, and shortages of repair vessels.
Heavy concentration of international traffic through a limited number of maritime chokepoints.
Dependence of many Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and other underserved regions on only one or two international cable systems.
Climate change and environmental pressures creating new risks for coastal landing stations and seabed infrastructure.
The need for much closer cooperation between governments, regulators, operators, financial institutions, and international organizations.
Working Group 1: Timely Deployment and Repair
The first Working Group focused on reducing the time required to deploy new submarine cable systems and restore damaged ones.
Its recommendations emphasize:
Streamlining national permitting and regulatory processes through transparent procedures and designated government single points of contact.
Creating a voluntary international directory of permitting contacts.
Expanding regional cooperation on permitting and repair coordination.
Increasing the number and geographic distribution of repair vessels and spare parts.
Developing rapid-response capability for shallow-water faults using modular teams and remotely operated vehicles.
Strengthening maintenance agreements, shared repair resources, and regional maintenance hubs.
Expanding technical training in cable engineering, repair operations, health and safety, and ROV operation.
Establishing structured public-private coordination mechanisms, including 24/7 contact lists, joint exercises, and common notification procedures.
Working Group 2: Risk Identification, Monitoring and Mitigation
The second Working Group concentrated on improving understanding of risks before failures occur and strengthening protection measures.
Its recommendations include:
Developing national resilience strategies based on evidence and operational data.
Improving information sharing between governments and industry through organizations such as the ICPC.
Establishing standardized reporting of cable faults and outages.
Strengthening legal frameworks implementing obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), including article 113 making cable damage a punishable offence.
Improving enforcement against negligent or intentional cable damage.
Incorporating submarine cable awareness into maritime safety training.
Improving anchor management and vessel practices near cable routes.
Enhancing marine spatial planning and keeping nautical charts up to date.
Conducting regular resilience audits and stress testing.
Protecting cable landing stations and digital control systems.
Encouraging greater investment in cable protection measures such as improved routing and burial techniques.
Working Group 3: Fostering Connectivity and Geographic Diversity
The third Working Group addressed the uneven global distribution of submarine cable infrastructure and the need for greater redundancy.
Its recommendations include:
Developing blended-finance mechanisms for projects serving SIDS, LDCs, LLDCs, and underserved coastal regions.
Encouraging governments, financiers, and operators to collaborate early during cable planning.
Supporting public-private partnerships where purely commercial investment is insufficient.
Creating insurance mechanisms to improve project bankability and reduce costs.
Promoting clear and predictable regulatory environments.
Encouraging non-discriminatory access to cable landing stations.
Designing major trunk routes with branching units to enable future connections.
Using government anchor-tenancy to support financially marginal projects.
Applying best-practice deployment toolkits to reduce costs and delays.
Supporting route diversity to reduce dependence on single cable paths.
Expanding technical assistance and capacity-building for regulators.
Conducting hazard assessments for new deployments.
Encouraging shared landing infrastructure while maintaining competition.
Developing operational procedures for seamless failover to satellite, microwave, or other backup systems during extended cable outages.
Cross-cutting priorities
Across all three Working Groups, seven themes consistently emerged:
Stronger government-industry coordination.
Faster and more predictable permitting.
Better risk identification and monitoring.
Greater route diversity and redundancy.
Improved operational preparedness and repair capability.
Targeted support for vulnerable and underserved regions.
Integration of climate resilience into long-term infrastructure planning.
Looking ahead
Rather than proposing a new regulatory regime, the report presents a set of voluntary, practical recommendations intended to guide national governments, regulators, operators, development banks, and international organizations. The report emphasizes that submarine cable resilience is a shared international responsibility requiring sustained cooperation across public and private sectors. With publication of the report, the Advisory Body has completed its two-year mandate, shifting attention from developing recommendations to implementing them through national policy and operational practice.
GLOSSARY
AIS — Automatic Identification System
CPC — Cable Protection Committee
GRAOF — Global Repair Asset Optimization Framework
HSE — Health, Safety and Environment
ICPC — International Cable Protection Committee
IHO — International Hydrographic Office (as named in the report; more commonly the International Hydrographic Organization)
IMO — International Maritime Organization
LDC — Least Developed Country
LLDC — Landlocked Developing Country
REIO — Regional Economic Integration Organisation
ROV — Remotely Operated Vehicle
SIDS — Small Island Developing State
SPOC — Single Point of Contact
STCW — Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers
UNCLOS — United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
RESOURCES
Report of the Working Groups 2026 — the final IAB report (PDF)
ITU press release — announcement of the report’s approval, 10 July 2026
IAB Working Groups — full recommendations across the three Working Groups
ITU Submarine Cable Resilience — ITU’s programme hub on the Advisory Body’s work
Porto Summit — the Feb 2026 summit where the recommendations were first agreed
International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) — co-convenor and leading industry body on cable protection
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) — UN agency for digital technologies, co-convenor of the Advisory Body
EU Submarine Cable Security Toolbox — European Commission Expert Group report on cable security, Feb 2026
Undersea Cables Risk Report Q1 2026 — Windward’s data-driven analysis of vessel activity near cable routes