If you’re ever tempted to think that modern telecoms is really just about software smoke and mirrors, I recommend that you give a thought to submarine cables. The latest of these, The Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable, is due to be completed this summer at a cost of over £450m.
According to today's Times, the new cable will enable data speeds of up to 100 gigabits per second between London and Mumbai, 200,000 times faster than its 1980s’ predecessor. But even more impressive is the fact that the deployment, requiring 6 ships and 9,000 miles of cable, has had to contend with pirates, mines off the coast of Libya and attacks from hungry sharks (who apparently mistake the cable’s electromagnetic fields for those given out by distressed fish).
Who said romance was dead…?
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