Technology · Issue 01
1,835 terabits under the ocean
International internet bandwidth hit 1,835 Tbps in 2025, up 23%. Nearly 40 new submarine cables are due in 2026 — about $6 billion of steel and glass, the busiest year in a decade. AI training may be in a desert. Inference still crosses an ocean.
- International bandwidth, 2025
- 1,835 Tbps
- Growth in 2025
- +23%
- New cables due in 2026
- ~40
- 2026 subsea capex, TeleGeography
- $6bn
The internet is still a ship
TeleGeography’s 2025 bandwidth print: 1,835 terabits per second of international capacity, +23% on the year, a four-year CAGR of 24%. It has more than doubled since 2021. Africa grew at 38%. The 2026 Submarine Cable Map, the 30th edition, draws 694 systems and 1,893 landing stations. 2025 already landed about 15 new cables ($3.2 billion). 2026 is pencilled at nearly 40, about $6 billion — the highest in at least a decade. Hyperscalers, not telcos, write a growing share of those cheques. Google and Meta’s trans-Pacific book alone is over $3 billion of the 2026–29 surge.
Bits have a geography
A terrestrial conduit can carry thousands of fibre pairs; a submarine cable is still limited to about 24, because you have to send power with the light. That is why new cables, not denser old ones, are the growth. It is also why a single cut in the Red Sea or the Taiwan Strait is a distribution event. Pair this with The long way round and Eleven thousand birds: when a cable is cut, packets reroute, latency jumps, and a LEO constellation becomes the overflow. Content distribution in 2026 is a physical network with a political map.
The long view is who lands the cable
The investing implication is dull on purpose. Own the ships that lay, the landing stations in friendly jurisdictions, the hyperscaler offtake that actually fills a fibre pair, and a scepticism toward ‘the cloud has no location’. Training a model in a desert still requires an ocean to serve a phone in Lagos. $6 billion of 2026 cable is a rounding error next to $700 billion of 2026 AI capex. It is also the thing that capex cannot train without.
Investing lens
Horizon 7–15 years · Educational, not advice
International bandwidth is a 24% CAGR physical asset with a 24-fibre-pair constraint. Own landing rights, lay vessels and the hyperscaler cables, not a generic ‘digital infrastructure’ wrapper.
Where the map points
- Subsea operators and marine construction with a 2026–29 book
- Landing-station and backhaul in growing corridors (Africa, trans-Pacific)
- Hyperscalers that fund their own cables
- Hedge chokepoint risk; do not ignore it
What can break it
- A cable-cut cluster that looks like demand destruction
- Overbuild on a single route
- Permitting and environmental blocks at landings
CHART does not recommend securities, funds or trades. Figures can be revised by their publishers. Do your own research and consider regulated advice before allocating capital.
Sources
Every headline number traces to a named publisher. Contextual sources inform the essay, not the key stat.
- 01PrimaryTeleGeography2025-09-23International Internet Bandwidth Now Sits at 1,835 Tbps
International bandwidth 1,835 Tbps in 2025, +23% y/y. Four-year CAGR 24% (2021–2025). Africa 38% CAGR.
- 02CorroboratedTeleGeography2025-12-17What to Know About Transport Networks in 2026
~15 new subsea cables in 2025 ($3.2bn). Nearly 40 in 2026 (~$6bn), highest in a decade. 2026 map: 694 systems.
- 03CorroboratedTeleGeography2026-03-02TeleGeography’s 2026 Submarine Cable Map
694 submarine cable systems, 1,893 landing stations.
Keep reading
Eleven thousand satellites, one operator
As of 27 August 2026 there are 11,102 Starlink satellites in orbit — 11,087 of them working. The first 60 went up in May 2019. This is how broadband is being distributed when fibre is slow and a coastline is a chokepoint.
11,102
Starlink satellites in orbit, 27 Aug 2026
Ships are taking the long way round
Seaborne trade grew 2.2% in 2024 and is set to crawl at 0.5% in 2025. Tonne-miles jumped 6% — three times the cargo — because vessels are avoiding chokepoints. Distribution of goods is now a distance story.
+6%
Seaborne tonne-miles, 2024
The power behind intelligence
Data centres used 485 TWh in 2025. The IEA’s base case still nearly doubles that by 2030 — and AI sites are growing three times as fast as the rest.
485 TWh
Data-centre electricity, 2025