The European Union (EU) plans to lay an underwater Internet cable in the Black Sea to improve communication with Georgia and reduce dependence on lines that pass through Russia.
The Financial Times (FT) writes about it.
According to the program document of the European Commission, the cable with a length of 1 100 kilometers and a cost of €45 million will connect EU member states with the Caucasus through international waters in the Black Sea. The project is still under consideration, tenders for its implementation have not yet been opened.
According to FT sources, in 2021 the EU and Georgia agreed that a Black Sea internet cable was needed to improve Georgiaʼs digital communications. Subsequently, the war in Ukraine gave impetus to the project. Terrestrial communication lines and stations through which submarine cables reach the shore are considered vulnerable to espionage, hackers and thieves.
The EU also plans to lay a separate electric cable under the Black Sea as part of the Global Gateway program. It should connect Hungary and Romania with Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Vodafone is also considering the possibility of developing a cable route across the Black Sea. The project — called Kardessa — could connect Ukraine with Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia, and then continue overland to Armenia, Kazakhstan and on to Asia.
- About 99% of intercontinental Internet traffic is carried over more than 400 active submarine cables that stretch 1.4 million kilometers.
- Important cables of the world Internet pass through Russia. For example, the so-called Dream cable, 8 700 kilometers long, runs through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and China.