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Digital connectivity is oxygen for artificial intelligence (AI). As the world organises itself to deploy and control the technology, investments in digital connectivity will be critical.
AI and powerful semiconductor chips are critical dimensions of the partnership India and the United States (US) announced last week in Washington under the COMPACT agreement. Besides such agreements, the billions being invested in undersea cable and satellite connectivity will be key in the smart usage and management of AI.
Social media giant Meta last week announced the launch of Project Waterworth, a subsea cable that “will reach five major continents and span over 50,000 km (longer than the Earth’s circumference)”. It is the world’s longest subsea cable project and uses “the highest-capacity technology available”.
Waterworth will bring “industry-leading connectivity” to the US, India, Brazil, South Africa and other key regions. “With Project Waterworth we can help ensure that the benefits of AI and other emerging technologies are available to everyone, regardless of where they live or work. In India, where we’ve already seen significant growth and investment in digital infrastructure, Waterworth will help accelerate this progress and support the country’s ambitious plans for its digital economy,” said Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp.
Reliance Jio will have two undersea cables operational this year: India Asia Xpress (IAX) and the India Europe Xpress (IEX). The cables run for 15,000 km and have a strategic investment from China Mobile. IAX connects Chennai and Mumbai with Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia; and IEX connects those cities with France, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Djibouti.
India's data transmission capacity is expected to grow four times when new undersea cables are activated in 2025 to connect the country to key world markets. “As of the end of 2023, the total lit capacity and activity and activated capacity of these cables stood at 180 tbps (terabit per second) and 132 tbps, respectively,” Anil Kumar Lahoti, chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, has said.
“Multiple next-generation systems are due to become operational in 2025, replacing ageing cables. Once the new systems are fully operational, India's data transmission capacity is projected to quadruple with additional crucial routes," he said. India plays a key role in the global communications network, hosting around 17 international subsea cables across 17 district landing stations (a physical facility that serves as a landing point for submarine cables).
Satellite connectivity is being enhanced, too. American billionaire Elon Musk is keen to launch Starlink in India, as rival Bharti Enterprises waits for government approval to begin a similar satellite broadband service in the country.
Undersea telecom cables serve as a lifeline of the global digital economy by facilitating more than 99 per cent of international data exchange, says the UN’s International Telecommunication Union.
India is strengthening rural connectivity with the BharatNet broadband network of optical fibre cables. The objective is to enable mobile operators, internet service providers, cable television operators and content providers to launch various services such as e-health, e-education and e-governance. As many as 214,000 gram panchayats are connected through the BharatNet project and over 692,000 km of optical fibre cables have been laid till January, according to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Connectivity infrastructure will deepen India’s digital economy. At the global level, the country will have to collaborate in technology systems. Between the regulatory chokes of the European Union and the gated digital markets of China, the two global economies that will drive open innovation are India and the US. Connectivity linkages between them will be like oil pipelines that fuel tech-led growth.
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