The BROADEN project managed to roll out optic fibre cable in a rural area across an EU border. With transnational cooperation between Torsby municipality in Sweden and Grue municipality in Norway high speed internet from Sweden was made available at the Norwegian side. This visualization shows the growth of the undersea cable network, global internet peering capacity, and the distribution of IP addresses via BGP announcements over time. Use the controls at the top to play the animation or step through year by year. The area between Torsby. Fibre-optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) is a 28,000-kilometre-long (17,398 mi; 15,119 nmi) fibre optic mostly- submarine communications cable that connects the United Kingdom, Japan, India, and many places in between. These high-capacity cables transmit data using light signals, enabling global communication. Individual private companies and consortia of companies own and operate a network of more than 500 commercial undersea fibre-optic cables—570 as of 2025, with another 81 planned —that carry 97-98%. Communications cables are only part of the story. A far broader array of systems now covers the ocean floor – and must be protected.
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