Mumbai has emerged as a critical gateway for India’s internet connectivity, but the concentration of submarine cables along a small stretch of the city’s coastline is raising concerns about the resilience of the country’s digital infrastructure as data consumption and artificial intelligence (AI) demand grow.
Around 13 of India’s 18 intercontinental submarine cables come ashore within roughly six kilometres of Mumbai’s Versova coast. These cables carry a substantial share of India’s international bandwidth to Europe, Africa and West Asia, making the landing zone a strategically important part of the country’s digital network.
“This network faces a critical vulnerability due to severe geographic concentration,” says Anwesha Sen of the Takshashila Institution.
“If several of those cables were cut simultaneously, either accidentally or deliberately, a bulk of India’s westward bandwidth to West Asia, Africa and Europe would be impacted.”
While internet traffic can be rerouted through other landing points such as Chennai and Kochi, even slower data transmission could create significant problems for banks, stock exchanges, cloud companies and government networks. AI infrastructure, which depends on large volumes of rapid data transfers, could be particularly sensitive to such disruptions.
Submarine cables form the backbone of global communications, carrying around 99% of international communication traffic. India, one of the world’s largest internet markets, had more than one billion broadband subscribers by late 2025.
However, India accounts for around 20% of global data consumption while being connected to only about 3% of the world’s submarine cables. The country has 21 cable landing stations, compared with around 1,900 active and planned stations globally.
“We need to grow the number of cable landing stations several fold,” says Aruna Sundararajan, chairperson of the Broadband India Forum.
Ageing Cables and Repair Challenges
The vulnerability is compounded by ageing infrastructure. A Takshashila Institution study found that 11 of India’s 18 international submarine cables are more than 20 years old, approaching their nominal 25-year operating lifespan.
“It’s true that a significant share of India’s landing cables are approaching economic end-of-life, and that is a legitimate area of focus,” says Amajit Gupta, group CEO and managing director of Lightstorm.
Cable faults are another concern. Globally, an estimated 150-200 submarine cable failures occur every year, most commonly because of fishing activity, ship anchors, natural hazards and equipment failures.
India also lacks domestic subsea cable-repair vessels, meaning damaged cables depend on foreign repair ships that require permission to operate in Indian waters.
“Every cable fault in Indian waters depends on foreign repair ships from Dubai or Singapore. Once a foreign ship is assigned, it must obtain licences to operate in Indian waters, adding weeks to an already lengthy process,” says Sen.
“The bigger structural issue for India isn’t rerouting capability – it’s repair capacity,” says Gupta.
AI Growth Adds Pressure
India’s expanding data-centre industry could further increase demand for resilient international connectivity. Installed data-centre capacity has grown from 375 MW in 2020 to about 1,575 MW, creating a need for new submarine and terrestrial network capacity.
“Subsea cable planning itself takes three-four years and then cable laying also takes up to two years depending upon cable length,” says Sundararajan. “Thus, there can be some lag in getting subsea cable capacity to feed the upcoming data-centre capacity.”
Experts have also pointed to regulatory complexity as a major hurdle. Around 16 agencies across sectors including telecom, defence, shipping, ports and environment are involved in approvals related to submarine cables. Setting up a landing station can require numerous clearances.
“A core issue is fragmented governance, not a lack of technical capability.”
The proposed solutions include developing additional landing stations, diversifying cable routes away from Mumbai, creating faster approval systems, protecting cable corridors and building domestic repair capabilities.
“Connectivity has historically clustered around Mumbai because the ecosystem, infrastructure and demand were already concentrated there,” Gupta says. “But that concentration is exactly the risk the industry needs to design away from.”
Four new submarine cable systems are being commissioned, with three more planned. These include the I-2SEA system, which will connect India with Malaysia and Singapore through dual Indian landings.
For Mumbai, India’s digital transformation highlights a growing paradox: the city remains a crucial gateway for international data, even as the concentration of critical subsea infrastructure leaves the country exposed to disruption. As AI and data-centre demand accelerate, greater geographic diversity and stronger repair capacity will become increasingly important to India’s digital resilience.
Source: BBC
