Why Europe Is Getting Serious About Subsea Cables

Brussels is funding stress tests and coordination to protect undersea cables, marking a shift toward treating connectivity as strategic infrastructure

21 Jan 2026

The European Commission has announced €20m in new funding to strengthen the security and resilience of submarine cable networks, signalling a shift towards treating digital connectivity as strategic infrastructure rather than a background utility.

The initiative comes as global data traffic continues to rise, driven by cloud computing and the rapid spread of artificial intelligence. More data-intensive services have increased reliance on undersea cables, while recent accidental cuts and concerns about deliberate interference have highlighted the scale of disruption when links fail.

The Commission’s programme focuses less on physical protection and more on operational resilience. A central element is the introduction of stress testing for subsea cable systems, designed to assess how quickly faults are detected, how effectively traffic is rerouted and how fast operators can restore service while repairs are carried out.

Officials say the aim is to ensure operators can demonstrate resilience in practice, rather than relying on formal assurances. The approach mirrors methods used in banking and energy, where stress tests are intended to expose weaknesses before they result in systemic failures.

The move reflects a broader change in how subsea cables are viewed by policymakers. Once largely invisible, they are increasingly seen as assets linked to economic security, geopolitical stability and Europe’s digital competitiveness. The Commission has explicitly connected cable resilience to the EU’s long-term digital strategy, placing connectivity alongside energy and transport as critical infrastructure.

The funding could have wider market effects. Stronger resilience requirements may influence how new cable projects are designed, financed and insured. Large users of digital infrastructure, including financial institutions and cloud service providers, may also push for clearer standards on redundancy, recovery times and disclosure.

Coordination remains a challenge. Subsea cables often cross multiple jurisdictions, and operators are cautious about sharing sensitive information on routes and vulnerabilities. The Commission has floated ideas such as regional coordination hubs to speed up responses to outages while limiting security risks.

For businesses and consumers, the goal is fewer disruptions and faster recovery. With investment increasing and oversight tightening, subsea cable resilience is becoming a more prominent part of Europe’s infrastructure policy agenda.