At Submarine Networks World 2025 in Singapore, our managing partner, Ivan Skenderoski, unveiled one of the most ambitious projects, connecting the only left world continent Antarctica.
The session was part of the global projects showcase presentations featuring new proposed cable projects such as SEACOM 2.0, Fibre in the Gulf (FIG) and Bagha 1 cable.
This world-first initiative isn’t just about building infrastructure. It’s about enabling and expanding science research on Antarctica, its about sensing what is happening on the seabed surface through SMART cable technology, its about environmental friendly infrastructure. And most importantly its about bringing common services such as health and education to people residing there through telemedicine and remote learning.
Base case route and extensions are already sketched connecting King George and number of other islands as well as mainland Antarctica. However as mentioned during the speech the challenges of making this cable a reality are multifaceted:
– Technical challenge of deployment and operations of cable in harsh polar conditions
– Legal and regulatory challenge of getting permits under the Antarctica treaty
– Future demand assessment as no previous trends could be used and scientific research demand is difficult to predict 10-15 years forward and;
– Most important, the commercial feasibility of securing investments – with collaboration between countries represented there and the development banks being the most viable proposition on the table at present.
For 15 years, Salience has been helping shape digital transformation worldwide. Today, we stand at the forefront of a new era, one where bold ideas shape the networks of tomorrow, bringing the world closer together than ever before.
The journey has only just begun.