WATRA attended the ITU International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit on the 26th and 27th of February 2025 in Abuja, Nigeria.
The two-day summit, organized by ITU in partnership with Nigeria’s Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), saw the attendance of government representatives, international organizations, and telecoms industry leaders in a bid to affirm their support for strengthening the world’s undersea telecommunications cables. Both days of the summit featured panels discussing the current state of the submarine cables, disruption and crisis response strategies, legal frameworks for cable protection, and linking submarine cables to larger resilience goals.
More than 99 per cent of international data traffic is carried by a network of about 500 submarine telecommunications cables spanning over 1.7 million kilometers worldwide. However, the 150 to 200 faults reported globally each year mean significant communications disruptions with wide-reaching effects. This summit, therefore, was a significant point of galvanizing multistakeholder commitment to ensure the resilience of the global subsea cable network.
The first day of the summit also saw the first in-person meeting of the International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience, whose job it is to address ways to improve cable maintenance, prevent damage from natural hazards and accidental human activities, ensure faster recovery times after disruptions, increase redundancy and promote sustainable practices in the industry. This meeting was attended by Engr. Aliyu Aboki, WATRA’s Executive Secretary, who is one of the esteemed members of the Advisory Body, and culminated in a summit declaration that will serve as a guiding framework for their cooperative efforts.
