Strait of Hormuz cable risks raise concerns for regional digital connectivity

London: Iran warned last week that submarine cables in the Strait of Hormuz represent a vulnerable point for the region’s digital economy, prompting concern over possible threats to critical infrastructure as the conflict involving Iran continues.

The narrow strait is widely known as a chokepoint for global oil flows, but it is also a key route for digital communications. A number of fibre-optic cables run along the seabed there, linking countries in Southeast Asia to Europe through the Gulf states and Egypt.

Subsea cables are fibre-optic or electrical lines placed on the ocean floor to carry data and power. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialised agency for digital technologies, they handle about 99 per cent of global internet traffic. They are also used for telecommunications and electricity transmission between countries and are central to cloud computing and online communications.

“Damaged cables mean the internet slowing down or outages, e-commerce disruptions, delayed financial transactions … and economic fallout from all of these disruptions”, geopolitical and energy analyst Masha Kotkin said.

Countries in the Gulf, especially the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have spent billions of dollars on artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure as part of efforts to reduce dependence on oil. Both countries have set up national AI companies serving customers across the region, and those operations depend on undersea cables for rapid data transfer.

Among the major cable systems crossing the Strait of Hormuz are the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1), which connects Southeast Asia with Europe through Egypt and has landing points in the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia; the FALCON network, which links India and Sri Lanka with Gulf countries, Sudan and Egypt; and the Gulf Bridge International Cable System, which connects all Gulf countries, including Iran. Other networks are also being developed, including a system led by Qatar’s Ooredoo.

Risks to cable infrastructure

According to the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), the total length of submarine cables expanded significantly between 2014 and 2025, while the number of faults remained broadly steady at around 150-200 incidents annually. The ICPC and experts say 70-80pc of those faults are caused by accidental human activity, mainly fishing operations and ship anchors, although state-backed sabotage remains a risk.

Alan Mauldin, research director at telecom research firm TeleGeography, said other threats include undersea currents, earthquakes, subsea volcanoes and typhoons. He said the industry seeks to reduce those risks by burying cables, adding armour and choosing safer routes.

The war involving Iran, now nearing the two-month mark, has caused major disruption to global energy supplies and regional infrastructure, including strikes on Amazon Web Services data centres in Bahrain and the UAE. So far, subsea cables have not been hit. Still, experts say there is an indirect danger if damaged vessels drag anchors across the seabed.

“In a situation of active military operations, the risk of unintentional damage increases, and the longer this conflict lasts, the higher the likelihood of unintentional damage”, Kotkin said.

A comparable episode took place in 2024, when a commercial vessel attacked by Houthis drifted in the Red Sea and cut cables with its anchor.

TeleGeography said the extent of any disruption to connectivity in Gulf states would depend largely on how heavily individual network operators rely on the affected cables and what backup options are available to them.

Repair challenges and limited alternatives

Experts say protecting cables is only part of the challenge, as repairing them in conflict zones can be difficult. Although the technical repair process itself is not especially complex, the willingness of repair ship owners and insurers to operate in areas affected by fighting or mines can be a major factor. Access permits for territorial waters can also delay work.

“Often, one of the biggest problems with doing repairs is you have to get permits into the waters where the damage is. That can take a long time sometimes and can be the biggest source (of problems)”, Mauldin said.

He added that once the conflict ends, industry operators will need to survey the seabed again to identify safe cable routes and avoid ships or objects that may have sunk during hostilities.

If subsea cables are damaged, experts say land-based links would prevent a total loss of connectivity. However, they also say satellite systems cannot serve as a full substitute because they are costlier and unable to carry the same amount of traffic.

“It’s not as though you could just switch to satellite. That’s not an alternative”, Mauldin said, adding that satellites still depend on land-based networks and are more suitable for moving platforms such as aircraft and ships.

“a boutique solution, which is not scalable to millions of users, at this time”, Kotkin said of low-Earth-orbit systems such as Starlink.