Connected by Sea

In this age of internet communications, data is transmitted through the air to myriad computers, routers, servers, and cell phones. But if you look much further down, you might see wires traversing across our oceans to connect continents. They’re increasing in number and play an important role in our high-tech society. Few people know about this undersea cable industry and it suffers a chronic worker shortage to keep it running. “Submarine cables are a critical but often forgotten part of global communications. People picture the Internet as being wireless, but these long, thin cables transmit data more cheaply and efficiently than satellites,” explained Lane Burdette, a research analyst at Washington, D.C.-based TeleGeography, which builds and maintains data sets used to monitor, forecast, and map the telecommunications industry.