Protecting underwater internet cables from cumulative threats for low-income communities
open
Philippines, Asia
WS04903
Global connectivity increasingly depends on vulnerable subsea cables exposed to anchors, accidents, sabotage, natural hazards, and unclear legal responsibility. Future resilience requires diversified routes, monitoring, repair capacity, and international cooperation. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.