abstract

The world is becoming ever more digitally connected. The submarine fiber-optic cable network is crucial for maintaining and developing this connectivity. This article first introduces the key characteristics of and required changes in the network. It then clarifies the network’s importance in generating and relaying meanings and practices that sustain contemporary, networked societies globally. Next, it focuses on the challenges of slowness or lack of faster connections and of concentration in critical communications infrastructure. By analyzing the reasons restraining long-awaited changes to the network, the article concludes that neither technological development nor laying of new submarine cables along existing cable routes resolves these challenges. However, recent submarine communications cable projects planning to utilize the seabed of the Arctic Ocean offer potential solutions by suggesting new routes and landings and shortening the cables that carry digital communications between Europe, North America, and East Asia.

摘要

世界正变得越来越数字化连接。海底光缆网络对于维持和发展这种连通性至关重要。本文首先介绍了网络的主要特征和所需的变化。然后它阐明了网络在产生和传递维持全球当代网络社会的意义和实践方面的重要性。接下来，它侧重于缓慢或缺乏更快连接以及关键通信基础设施集中的挑战。通过分析阻碍期待已久的网络变革的原因，文章得出结论，无论是技术发展还是沿现有电缆路线铺设新的海底电缆都无法解决这些挑战。然而，