Who Owns The Undersea Cables On The Ocean Floor?

Undersea cables (also known as submarine cables) are easy to overlook (figuratively and literally), since satellites usually tend to get all the attention when people talk about worldwide communications. However, submarine cables are an important part of the modern world and everyday life, as they send various data across the globe and keep the internet alive. By early 2026, estimates suggest that more than 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) of active undersea cables are running along the ocean floor worldwide. But have you ever wondered who owns all of those cables?

Many undersea cables are owned by private companies, including phone carriers and tech giants. Some belong to a single company, while others are shared by several businesses that split the cost of building and operating them. In the past, telecommunications companies were the main funders and owners of undersea cables so they could link their networks across oceans and offer international calls and data. Over the years, that model expanded, and today, private cable operators and big tech companies (such as Amazon, Google, and Meta) also build and own these lines to handle the massive amounts of data required by their online services and cloud platforms.

There are currently hundreds and hundreds of undersea communication cables linking different countries and continents around the world, and that number keeps rising as new projects are finished and brought online. According to 2026 figures from TeleGeography, its global map monitors a total of 709 undersea cable systems. That breakdown includes 607 lines that are actively in service, with another 102 planned for future deployment.

A chunk of these undersea cables run as simple straight lines connecting just two locations, and others branch into multiple paths and landing points to connect numerous countries at once. Not surprisingly, their length differs as well. While some cables are shorter at around 80 miles long, others reach far greater lengths. In fact, one cable is about 28,000 miles long, and it’s the longest undersea cable in the world. It circles almost all of Africa and goes even further, also connecting countries in Asia and Europe. All of the world’s undersea cable network carries vast amounts of data traffic, though some are particularly important, such as the cables under the Red Sea.