Nigeria on Wednesday joined its voice with other global leaders to issue an urgent call for cross-border collaboration to protect submarine cables as critical national infrastructure.
Dr. Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, joined other global leaders to advance the urgent call for cross-border collaboration on underseas cable protection at the International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit 2025 organised by the International Telecommunication Union and hosted in Abuja by Nigeria.
The summit is aimed at safeguarding the undersea cable networks that carry more than 95% of international data traffic, with particular focus on Africa’s vulnerability to service disruptions.
The International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit 2025, hosted by Nigeria, comes against the backdrop of increasing cable damage incidents worldwide and growing recognition of submarine networks as critical national infrastructure.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General, points out the economic stakes, saying that “the global digital economy is growing faster than global GDP and is expected to reach $16.5 trillion by 2028.”
Nigeria: Protection of submarine cables is a global imperative
“Yet, despite their significance, these infrastructures remain vulnerable to disruption, whether from natural resources, geopolitical tensions, accidental damage or evolving cyber threats,” Dr. Tijani says, in his opening remarks. “The theme of this summit underscores the need for collaborative action in addressing these vulnerabilities and ensuring a resilient, secure and sustainable global communications network.”
According to the Minister, “this is not just a technical or industry-specific challenge. It is a global imperative that affects financial markets, digital trade, education, health systems and even governance.”
Dr. Tijani says that Nigeria has taken “decisive steps as a nation to recognise and protect telecommunications infrastructure as critical national infrastructure.”
The summit was organised following several major cable disruptions last year, including incidents that affected more than 17 million customers across West Africa in March 2024, crippling internet connectivity in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy says that the outcome of this summit will not only “influence policy and investment decisions, but also serve as a foundation for global cooperation and long-term resilience planning.”
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General, points out the economic stakes, saying that “the global digital economy is growing faster than global GDP and is expected to reach $16.5 trillion by 2028.”
Bogdan-Martin highlights the increasing dependence on submarine cable infrastructure noting that “over the next decade some estimate that more than two-thirds of the new value creation could come from digitally-enabled platforms.”
Professor Sandra Maximiano, Chair of Portugal’s National Communications Authority (ANACOM), discussed Africa’s particular vulnerability despite positive developments in the region’s digital infrastructure.
“International bandwidth usage has been growing at a very fast pace, impressive pace, at the compound annual growth rate of around 40 percent per year,” Maximiano says. “Nevertheless, challenges remain to be addressed.”
She explains that, “many Western African countries are served by only a single submarine cable. In these circumstances, rerouting internet traffic or finding alternative cable connections is not a viable solution.”
While Nigeria is served by several submarine cable systems including MainOne, Africa Coast to Europe, Equiano, and 2Africa, Maximiano underscores that other Western African countries depend on single submarine cable connections, leaving them particularly vulnerable when outages occur.
“In these circumstances, rerouting internet traffic or finding alternative cable connections is not a viable solution, leaving those countries far more vulnerable to cable cuts,” Maximiano says. “There are several questions we must address. How can we increase resilience and prevent cable cuts from occurring? As an academic, I used to say advances in scientific knowledge rely on good collaboration and co-authorship.
“Bearing this in mind, I will say here today that collaboration, cooperation, and knowledge sharing brings progress,” she adds.
Industry data presented at the summit reveals that submarine cables experience between 100 and 200 disruptions annually, with more than 70% of faults caused by commercial fishing and ship anchoring.
Kent Brassie, co-executive secretary of the advisory body and legal adviser of the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), detailed how climate change is creating new risks.
“With climate change, fish are moving to different parts of the ocean. And that means fishing risks are moving, as well, where they were not originally present,” Brassie explains.
Bressie says that the ICPC has developed a set of best practices encouraging governments to assess risks holistically, create regulatory regimes to foster speedy installation and repair, promote consultation with industry, use the best available science, and engage with other states regionally and globally.
The ICPC, which has more than 235 members from 75 countries, has developed a set of best practices for cable protection that includes holistic risk assessment, regulatory frameworks for speedy installation and repair, and increased consultation between industry and governments.
The newly-formed International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience held its first face-to-face meeting in Abuja ahead of the summit to finalise its work structure and develop policy recommendations.
“Greater cable resilience will demand synergy, synergy in the actions of stakeholders right across the public and the private sphere. And I know we will rise to this challenge,” Bogdan-Martin says.
“Just as standards provide the technical foundations for global business ecosystems,” Bogdan-Martin says, “our collective efforts can help to ensure that we build the consensus that is essential to cable resilience over the long term.”
The two-day summit aims to produce a declaration that will serve as a foundation for global cooperation on submarine cable protection and long-term resilience planning, with particular emphasis on protecting developing nations with limited connectivity options.
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