(Credit: Meta)
Nokia will power two new subsea cables—the Medusa, which will snake along the seafloor from the Red Sea through the Mediterranean and out to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Surge subsea network, which will run from Singapore to Indonesia.
The Medusa fiber optic network aims to "bring faster, more reliable connectivity to millions" of people in countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, and Egypt. It will enable "5G, cloud, and AI-era technologies" and equip the region for digital growth, Nokia says.
AFR-IX Telecom owns the cable project, and Nokia won a bidding process to power it with its 1830 Global Express (GX) platform.
"Medusa is laying the groundwork for a more connected and inclusive digital future," says Miguel Angel Acero, CTO and Founder of Medusa. The press release is light on details about timing, but the companies have good reason to keep some secrets.
These waters have seen multiple cable attacks. An unknown group cut four of 15 cables in the Red Sea in March 2024, disrupting 25% of internet traffic between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. It's unclear who did it. Houthi rebels denied the attack. There's also speculation that Russia and China may be cutting Europe's undersea cables, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Submarine cables carry 99% of the world’s intercontinental data traffic, and attacks on them are on the rise, particularly from Russia and China, The Guardian reports, citing a study from cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
The Surge subsea network between Singapore and Indonesia, meanwhile, will "enhance regional data center interconnectivity while expanding affordable broadband access to over 40 million people across Indonesia," Nokia says. A different Nokia platform, the 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) platform, powers it, delivering "high-speed optical transmission."
The focus is affordable, reliable connectivity in "communities that need it the most." Just like the Medusa cable, it aims usher in a "more connected, inclusive future" for these areas, says Shannedy Ong, Director, PT Solusi Sinergi Digital Tbk.
Asia is ground zero for subsea cable attacks, particularly around Taiwan. There was one incident in January, prompting Taiwan to investigate if a Chinese vessel deliberately severed the cable. A month later, it caught another Chinese ship deliberately doing that to another network by dragging its anchor. Between 2024 and 2025, there have been nine incidents in the Baltic Sea and off the coast of Taiwan, according to Recorded Future.
"Campaigns attributed to Russia in the North Atlantic-Baltic region and China in the western Pacific are likely to increase in frequency as tensions rise," the company says. NATO is actively tracking these events and bolstering defenses, CNN reports, but they remain a major risk for the new Nokia-powered cables.
Meta announced in February it is building the world's longest subsea cable, called Project Waterworth. It aims to "bring industry-leading connectivity to the US, India, Brazil, South Africa, and other key regions," Meta says. That will bring more people online, giving them access to Meta's platforms, such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and its latest AI models.
"As AI continues to transform industries and societies around the world, it’s clear that capacity, resilience, and global reach are more important than ever to support leading infrastructure," Meta says.