ESCA urges EU to support market-led subsea cable security

The European Subsea Cables Association (ESCA) has presented its industry perspective on subsea cable protection and recommendations to align with the EU Cable Security Action Plan to improve resilience of telecoms and power cables.

• ESCA calls for integration of existing industry systems, notification-based repair processes, support for the market-led repair ecosystem, enforcement of UNCLOS, realistic stress-testing with operators, and ownership-neutral funding via Projects of Common European Interest, emphasizing that over-securitisation and bureaucratic delays are the main threats to resilience.
• The presentation outlines risks to submarine cables (fishing, anchoring, dredging, energy development, natural hazards, cyberattacks), notes that repair numbers average 199 repairs/year while time-to-commence repairs has more than doubled, and urges international cooperation with partners such as the UK and Norway, better national planning, and incorporation of cable disruption into national risk assessments.