Explain Like I'm 5 (ELI5)

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What is the planning process of how undersea Internet cables are laid (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 months ago by x4740N@lemmy.world to c/eli5@lemmy.world

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I'm not talking about the process of how undersea cables are laid but the actual planning process

For example who owns the cables, how do they get permission from each country to lay the cable, are their border conflicts, how do they connect to the local countries Internet, etc.

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[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

The owner of the cable depends on who is paying for the cable. A fair chunk of new cables are owned by groups of companies (national telcos, Big tech companies, national research organisations)
You generally have to get approval from national governments to lay the cable (this may involve limiting your equipment providers or other economic restrictions) and approval from local governments to land the cable in a particular city (don't run your cable in this area because it is a shipping lane)
As for connecting to local internet, what happens in internet providers will buy capacity (a "wavelength", or x Gb of capacity) and then link that capacity into local internet providers at data centres.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 5 months ago

I always wondered if they actually lay on the floor and if so that they then are trying to do a route that is the least deep.