The central government has reportedly directed telecom companies and subsea cable operators to conduct a risk assessment of India’s exposure to potential damage to critical undersea data infrastructure, as tensions escalate in West Asia. Operators have also been asked to identify fallback options.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has held discussions with industry stakeholders to develop contingency plans, particularly in light of threats from Iran targeting undersea cables. The Strait of Hormuz remains a key route, carrying nearly one-third of India’s westbound traffic to the US and Europe. While some traffic can be diverted via Singapore, this route lacks the capacity to handle the full load. Moreover, rerouting would increase costs significantly, especially as hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) continue to absorb large portions of available capacity.
The Pacific route presents additional challenges, being longer than the Atlantic route and likely to affect latency and processing speeds, according to experts.
Earlier this month, reports indicated that cable repair ships operating in the region have paused work due to security concerns. This has disrupted maintenance activities on Airtel’s SEA-ME-WE 4 (SMW4) and I-ME-WE (IMEWE) systems, as well as Flag Telecom’s FALCON cable, all of which were damaged near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Tata Communications’ TGN-Gulf and Airtel’s Africa Pearls systems also face potential risks. In addition, several new subsea projects, including Reliance Jio’s India-Europe-Express and India-Asia-Express, along with Google’s Dhivaru cable, are currently under development in the same corridor.
The immediate priority for the industry is to protect existing infrastructure and ensure swift repairs in case of damage, for which government support in securing necessary approvals is critical.
A prolonged disruption could impact India’s data centre expansion plans, which rely heavily on robust subsea connectivity. Industry stakeholders have urged the government to engage with Iran to mitigate risks to these cables. However, executives remain cautiously optimistic, noting that some India-bound vessels have recently been permitted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
