International internet bandwidth reached 2,259 Tbps in 2026, up 23% in a single year and more than double its 2022 level (TeleGeography, International Internet Bandwidth 2026). That capacity rides on 607 in-service submarine cable systems, with 102 more planned, and the demand behind it has shifted owners: content providers account for nearly three-quarters of used international bandwidth and at least 80% on the biggest ocean routes. The pipeline is the largest in two decades, with more than 16 billion dollars of new cables slated to enter service between 2026 and 2029. For the physical side of the network, see our submarine cable statistics. We aggregated data from TeleGeography, ITU, the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), Meta, Google, AWS, Ciena, Mordor Intelligence, 360iResearch and other primary sources listed in the methodology.
TL;DR
- 2,259 Tbps of international internet bandwidth in 2026, +23% year over year (TeleGeography, 2026).
- Used international bandwidth surpassed 6.4 Pbps after 29% growth in 2024 (TeleGeography, May 2025).
- 607 submarine cable systems in service and 102 planned (TeleGeography, 2026).
- 1,893 landing stations on the 2026 map, up from 1,006 in 2018 (TeleGeography Submarine Cable Maps).
- Africa’s international bandwidth grew at a 35% CAGR from 2022 to 2026, the fastest of any region (TeleGeography, 2026).
- Content providers use nearly 75% of international bandwidth, and at least 80% on trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific and intra-Asia routes (TeleGeography, May 2025).
- Google holds stakes in 38 cables, Meta 24, Microsoft 10 and Amazon 9 (TeleGeography, August 2026).
- More than 16 billion dollars of new cables planned to enter service in 2026 to 2029 (TeleGeography, April 2026).
- 800 Gb/s on a single wavelength across 16,608 km, a world record on Meta’s Bifrost cable (Ciena and Meta, March 2026).
- Meta’s Project Waterworth: 50,000+ km and 24 fiber pairs, versus 8 to 16 on typical new systems (Meta Engineering, February 2025).
- 150 to 200 cable faults a year worldwide, 70% to 80% from accidental human activity (ITU and ICPC, 2025).
- About two-thirds of cable maintenance ships reach end of service life by 2040 (TeleGeography, July 2025).
1. Network Scale: How Big the Undersea Fiber Network Has Become
The cable count is not slowing down, it is accelerating. TeleGeography’s 2026 Submarine Cable Map depicts 694 cable systems and 1,893 landing stations, against 321 systems in 2016 and 447 in 2020 (TeleGeography, The Submarine Cable Boom as Told by a Decade of Maps). Landing stations nearly doubled from 1,006 in 2018, which matters more than the system count: every new landing is another country, city or data center campus that can reach international capacity without a terrestrial backhaul.
Of the systems TeleGeography tracks, 607 are in service and 102 are planned (TeleGeography, How Many Submarine Cables Are There, Anyway?, September 2026). Counting is less obvious than it looks: the trans-Atlantic route has only 14 in-service systems but 18 segments crossing it, because over half of mapped systems have multiple segments or branches. ITU uses a deliberately rounder figure, stating that more than 99% of international data traffic travels over about 500 submarine cables spanning roughly 1.7 million km (ITU press release, February 2025).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cable systems on the 2026 map | 694 | TeleGeography Submarine Cable Map 2026 |
| In-service / planned systems | 607 / 102 | TeleGeography, September 2026 |
| Landing stations | 1,893 (2026), 1,712 (2025), 1,006 (2018) | TeleGeography Submarine Cable Maps |
| Cable systems mapped, 2016 vs 2020 vs 2025 | 321 vs 447 vs 597 | TeleGeography Submarine Cable Maps |
| In-service trans-Atlantic systems / segments | 14 / 18 | TeleGeography, September 2026 |
| Share of international data traffic on submarine cables | More than 99% | ITU, February 2025 |
| Total submarine cable length | About 1.7 million km (2025), up from 1 million km (2014) | ICPC media FAQ, 2025 |
| Shortest / longest system in TeleGeography FAQ | 131 km (CeltixConnect) / 20,000 km (Asia America Gateway) | TeleGeography Submarine Cable FAQs |
Context note: TeleGeography’s map total (694) and its system count (607 in service plus 102 planned, 709) differ slightly because the map is frozen at print time. Its own July 2025 estimate of cable length was over 1.48 million km in service, lower than the ICPC’s 1.7 million km figure.
2. Lit Bandwidth Growth: Doubling Roughly Every Three to Four Years
The headline curve is steady compounding, not a spike. Total international internet bandwidth stands at 2,259 Tbps in 2026, after 23% growth and a 4-year CAGR of 23% (TeleGeography, International Internet Bandwidth, September 2026). The prior edition put the total at 1,835 Tbps in 2025, so the network added roughly 424 Tbps (2,259 minus 1,835) of international internet capacity in a single year. Traffic is tracking capacity almost exactly: average and peak international traffic both grew at a 24% CAGR between 2022 and 2026, which is why operators keep lighting new wavelengths instead of running fat margins.
Total used international bandwidth, which includes private networks and wholesale capacity beyond the public internet, is several times larger. TeleGeography measured used international bandwidth above 6.4 Pbps, after 29% growth in 2024 and a 32% CAGR from 2020 to 2024 (TeleGeography, International Bandwidth Demand Surpasses 6.4 Pbps, May 2025). Demand tripled over those four years. The edges grow fastest: Africa expanded international internet bandwidth at a 35% CAGR between 2022 and 2026 and Oceania at 25%, reflecting new systems such as 2Africa and Equiano landing where capacity was scarce. AI is a new driver, with TeleGeography reporting 2025 AI traffic growth of 90% on fixed networks and 80% on mobile networks.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| International internet bandwidth | 2,259 Tbps (2026) | TeleGeography, International Internet Bandwidth 2026 |
| Prior-year international internet bandwidth | 1,835 Tbps (2025) | TeleGeography, 2025 edition |
| Annual growth / 4-year CAGR (2022-2026) | 23% / 23% | TeleGeography, 2026 |
| Africa / Oceania bandwidth CAGR, 2022-2026 | 35% / 25% | TeleGeography, 2026 |
| Average and peak international traffic CAGR, 2022-2026 | 24% / 24% | TeleGeography, 2026 |
| Used international bandwidth | Above 6.4 Pbps | TeleGeography, May 2025 |
| Used bandwidth growth: 2024 / 2020 / CAGR 2020-2024 | 29% / 45% / 32% | TeleGeography, May 2025 |
| AI traffic growth in 2025, fixed / mobile networks | 90% / 80% | TeleGeography, 2026 |
Context note: TeleGeography’s ‘international internet bandwidth’ (2,259 Tbps) and ‘used international bandwidth’ (6.4 Pbps) are different metrics and should not be compared as a growth series. The 6.4 Pbps figure is end-2024 data; a 2026 update is expected.
3. Who Uses the Bandwidth: The Content Provider Takeover
The ownership of demand has flipped in fifteen years. In 2010, telecom carriers such as AT&T and Telstra used about 75% of international bandwidth; today content providers (Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft) consume about 75% (TeleGeography, The Economics of Submarine Cables, September 2025). On the routes that matter most for cloud and AI, the share is higher still: at least 80% on trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific and intra-Asian routes at the end of 2024, according to TeleGeography’s May 2025 demand analysis.
The hyperscalers are no longer just buyers, they are builders. TeleGeography’s content provider cable holdings list (August 2026) counts 38 cables for Google, 24 for Meta, 10 for Microsoft and 9 for Amazon, and the list has grown from 20 cables in 2017 to over 60. Content providers funded 100% of new Atlantic cable investment and 80% on the Pacific. The same hyperscalers drive the data center buildout that these cables connect.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Content provider share of international bandwidth | About 75% (nearly three-quarters, end 2024) | TeleGeography, May 2025 and September 2025 |
| Telecom carriers’ share of international bandwidth, 2010 | About 75% | TeleGeography, The Economics of Submarine Cables 2025 |
| Content provider share on trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, intra-Asia routes | At least 80% | TeleGeography, May 2025 |
| Hyperscaler share of allocated bandwidth on key routes | Over 80% | TeleGeography, Pricing and Enterprise Networks in 2026 |
| Content provider share of new cable investment: Atlantic / Pacific | 100% / 80% | TeleGeography, September 2025 |
| Cables with stakes held by Google / Meta / Microsoft / Amazon | 38 / 24 / 10 / 9 | TeleGeography, August 2026 |
| Cables on TeleGeography’s content provider list, 2017 vs 2026 | 20 vs over 60 | TeleGeography, August 2026 |
| Subsea cables Meta has developed in the past decade | More than 20 | Meta Engineering, February 2025 |
Context note: the holdings list mixes sole ownership, part ownership and major capacity purchases, so the per-company counts are not all ‘owned’ cables. Content providers first passed internet backbone providers as the largest users of international capacity in 2017.
4. Per-Cable Capacity: More Fiber Pairs, Faster Wavelengths
Capacity growth now comes from fiber pair count more than from exotic optics. Older long-haul systems carried 6 or 8 fiber pairs; Google’s Dunant, ready for service in February 2021, was the first long-haul cable with a 12 fiber pair SDM design and is rated at 250 Tbps (Google Cloud blog). TeleGeography now describes 16 to 24 fiber pairs as typical for new builds. Google’s Grace Hopper went to 16 pairs, and Meta’s Project Waterworth uses 24 pairs over more than 50,000 km at depths up to 7,000 meters.
The per-pair ceiling is still rising. In March 2026, Ciena and Meta sent a single 800 Gb/s wavelength across 16,608 km of the Bifrost cable between Singapore and California without regeneration, delivering 18 Tb/s per fiber pair in a 10 rack unit terminal and halving power per bit versus the previous modem generation (RCR Wireless). Multiply that per-pair figure by 16 or 24 pairs and the 300 Tbps class becomes ordinary: AWS says its first private cable, Fastnet from Maryland to County Cork, will exceed 320 Tbps when it enters service in 2028 (Submarine Networks).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dunant (US-France) capacity / fiber pairs | 250 Tbps / 12 pairs (RFS February 2021) | Google Cloud, 2021 |
| MAREA (US-Spain) capacity | 224 Tbps | TeleGeography Submarine Cable FAQs |
| Equiano (Portugal-South Africa) capacity / fiber pairs | 144 Tbps / 12 pairs, about 20x the previous regional cable | Google via Submarine Networks |
| 2Africa design / West segment trunk capacity | 16 fiber pairs / up to 180 Tbps (21 Tbps per pair on 8 pairs) | Meta via RCR Wireless, November 2025 |
| Fastnet (US-Ireland) capacity | More than 320 Tbps, RFS 2028 | AWS via Submarine Networks, November 2025 |
| Project Waterworth fiber pairs / length | 24 pairs / more than 50,000 km | Meta Engineering, February 2025 |
| Typical fiber pairs on new cables | 16 to 24 | TeleGeography, September 2025 |
| Single-carrier record on Bifrost | 800 Gb/s over 16,608 km, 18 Tb/s per pair | Ciena and Meta, March 2026 |
Context note: design capacity is what a cable can carry with today’s terminal equipment, not what is lit on day one. Capacity rises over a cable’s 25-year design life as operators upgrade the terminal optics, as the Bifrost trial shows. Older systems such as Dunant (2021) and Grace Hopper (announced 2020) are shown as baselines.
5. Investment and Economics: The Biggest Build Cycle Since 2001
The money confirms the demand curve. TeleGeography expects more than 16 billion dollars of new cables to enter service between 2026 and 2029, a level not seen since 2000 to 2001, against an average of just over 2 billion dollars a year in aggregate construction costs between 2017 and 2025 (TeleGeography, Building Tomorrow’s Internet: A 2026 Update, April 2026). A year earlier, TeleGeography had forecast about 13 billion dollars for 2025 to 2027, nearly double the 2022 to 2024 total (Light Reading, 2025 in review). Asia leads with over 3.7 billion dollars of announced systems for 2026 to 2029, followed by trans-Pacific at over 3 billion.
Unit economics explain why owners build rather than lease. A 7,000 km trans-Atlantic cable costs around 250 million dollars and a trans-Pacific one can reach 400 million, with cable at 6,000 to 20,000 dollars per km and repeaters at about 200,000 dollars each every 60 to 80 km (TeleGeography, The Economics of Submarine Cables 2025). With transport prices historically falling 10% to 20% a year (TeleGeography, Pricing and Enterprise Networks in 2026), the cheapest bit belongs to whoever owns the newest, fattest cable.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| New cables entering service, 2026-2029 | More than 16 billion dollars | TeleGeography, April 2026 |
| Average annual construction cost, 2017-2025 | Just over 2 billion dollars | TeleGeography, April 2026 |
| Earlier forecast, 2025-2027 | About 13 billion dollars (nearly double 2022-2024) | TeleGeography via Light Reading, 2025 |
| Asia / trans-Pacific announced investment, 2026-2029 | Over 3.7 billion / over 3 billion dollars | TeleGeography, April 2026 |
| Trans-Atlantic / trans-Pacific cable cost | About 250 million / up to 400 million dollars | TeleGeography, September 2025 |
| Cable cost per km / repeater cost | 6,000 to 20,000 dollars / about 200,000 dollars | TeleGeography, September 2025 |
| Annual cable spending, now vs late 2020s projection | 2 billion vs 4 billion dollars | TeleGeography, September 2025 |
| Historical transport price erosion | 10% to 20% a year | TeleGeography, December 2025 |
Market research firms disagree sharply on the size of the submarine optical fiber cable market because they define it differently. 360iResearch (via Research and Markets, September 2026) sizes it at 18.10 billion dollars in 2026, rising to 29.65 billion by 2032 at an 8.53% CAGR. Mordor Intelligence puts it at 5.89 billion dollars in 2026 and 9.87 billion by 2031 (10.87% CAGR), and says Alcatel Submarine Networks, SubCom and HMN Technologies control about 60% of manufacturing capacity. Market Research Future estimates 21.69 billion dollars in 2025 growing to 39.28 billion by 2035.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Market size, 360iResearch | 18.10B dollars (2026) to 29.65B (2032), 8.53% CAGR | 360iResearch via Research and Markets, 2026 |
| Market size, Mordor Intelligence | 5.89B dollars (2026) to 9.87B (2031), 10.87% CAGR | Mordor Intelligence, 2026 |
| Market size, Market Research Future | 21.69B dollars (2025) to 39.28B (2035), 6.12% CAGR | Market Research Future |
| Asia-Pacific share of 2025 revenue | 33.21% | Mordor Intelligence, 2026 |
| Cloud provider client segment CAGR | 11.84% | Mordor Intelligence, 2026 |
| Top 3 suppliers’ share of manufacturing capacity | About 60% | Mordor Intelligence, 2026 |
6. Resilience: Faults, Repairs and the Red Sea Test
More capacity has not meant more breakage. ITU and the ICPC report an average of 150 to 200 cable faults a year (ITU, February 2025), and the ICPC notes that this rate held steady while total cable length grew from 1 million km in 2014 to about 1.7 million km in 2025 (ICPC media FAQ). 70% to 80% of faults come from accidental human activity such as fishing and anchors; the ICPC puts sabotage at under 1% of cable damage a year. Our undersea cable outage statistics cover repair times in more depth.
The pressure point is the repair fleet, not the fiber. TeleGeography, summarizing a SubOptic study, says about two-thirds of cable maintenance ships will reach the end of their service life by 2040, while total cable kilometers grow by a net 48%, and sustaining current service levels needs about 3 billion dollars for 15 replacement and 5 additional ships (TeleGeography, July 2025). The Red Sea showed what a double cut costs: on September 6, 2025, damage to SMW4 and IMEWE near Jeddah raised latency on Microsoft Azure traffic between Asia, the Middle East and Europe from 05:45 UTC (Network World). Traffic was rerouted, not lost, which is the dividend of route diversity; satellites remain a marginal backup, at 0.37% of US international capacity per FCC data cited by TeleGeography (see our Starlink statistics for that side of the market).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cable faults per year worldwide | 150 to 200 | ITU and ICPC, February 2025 |
| Faults from accidental human activity | 70% to 80% | ICPC media FAQ, 2025 |
| Share of cable damage from sabotage | Under 1% a year | ICPC media FAQ, 2025 |
| Cable maintenance ships at end of life by 2040 | About two-thirds | SubOptic study via TeleGeography, July 2025 |
| Investment needed for the repair fleet | About 3 billion dollars (15 replacement + 5 new ships) | SubOptic study via TeleGeography, July 2025 |
| Net growth in cable km to 2040 | 48% | SubOptic study via TeleGeography, July 2025 |
| Red Sea cuts, September 6, 2025 | SMW4 (about 18,800 km, 14 countries) and IMEWE (12,091 km) | Network World, September 2025 |
| Satellite share of US international capacity | 0.37% | FCC data via TeleGeography Submarine Cable FAQs |
Context note: the ICPC also says bandwidth crossing the Strait of Hormuz is less than 1% of international bandwidth globally, a reminder that exposure depends on route, not on headlines. Claims that 17% of global internet traffic crosses the Red Sea circulate widely in coverage of the 2025 cuts but do not trace to a named primary measurement, so we exclude them from the tables.
Summary: Submarine Fiber Optic Cable Bandwidth by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| International internet bandwidth | 2,259 Tbps (2026), +23% | TeleGeography, 2026 |
| 4-year bandwidth CAGR, 2022-2026 | 23% | TeleGeography, 2026 |
| Used international bandwidth | Above 6.4 Pbps (end 2024) | TeleGeography, May 2025 |
| Used bandwidth CAGR, 2020-2024 | 32% | TeleGeography, May 2025 |
| Africa bandwidth CAGR, 2022-2026 | 35% | TeleGeography, 2026 |
| In-service / planned cable systems | 607 / 102 | TeleGeography, 2026 |
| Landing stations | 1,893 | TeleGeography Submarine Cable Map 2026 |
| International data traffic on subsea cables | More than 99% | ITU, 2025 |
| Total cable length | About 1.7 million km | ICPC, 2025 |
| Content provider share of international bandwidth | About 75% | TeleGeography, 2025 |
| Content provider share on major ocean routes | At least 80% | TeleGeography, 2025 |
| Google / Meta cable holdings | 38 / 24 | TeleGeography, August 2026 |
| New cable investment, 2026-2029 | More than 16 billion dollars | TeleGeography, April 2026 |
| Dunant capacity | 250 Tbps on 12 fiber pairs | Google Cloud, 2021 |
| Fastnet planned capacity | More than 320 Tbps (2028) | AWS, November 2025 |
| Project Waterworth | 24 fiber pairs, 50,000+ km | Meta, 2025 |
| Single-wavelength record | 800 Gb/s over 16,608 km | Ciena and Meta, March 2026 |
| Cable faults per year | 150 to 200 | ITU and ICPC, 2025 |
| Repair ships at end of life by 2040 | About two-thirds | SubOptic via TeleGeography, 2025 |
| Market size range, 2026 | 5.89B to 18.10B dollars | Mordor Intelligence; 360iResearch |
Methodology and Sources
Every figure above was read on a primary or named intermediary page during research for this update. Where a company announcement was blocked to automated access (AWS, Ciena), we used trade-press coverage that quotes the announcement and named it in the Source column.
- TeleGeography: 2026 Submarine Cable Map, How Many Submarine Cables Are There, Anyway?, The Submarine Cable Boom as Told by a Decade of Maps, Submarine Cable FAQs, International Internet Bandwidth (2026), International Bandwidth Demand Surpasses 6.4 Pbps (May 2025), The Economics of Submarine Cables (September 2025), Content Providers’ Submarine Cable Holdings (August 2026), Building Tomorrow’s Internet: A 2026 Update on Cable Investment, Pricing and Enterprise Networks in 2026, Cable Repairs (July 2025)
- ITU: International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit press release (February 2025)
- International Cable Protection Committee: Media enquiries and FAQ
- Meta: Project Waterworth (Meta Engineering, February 2025); 2Africa completion via RCR Wireless (November 2025)
- Google Cloud: Dunant ready for service (2021), Grace Hopper announcement (2020); Equiano specifications via Submarine Networks
- AWS Fastnet via Submarine Networks (November 2025)
- Ciena and Meta Bifrost record via RCR Wireless (March 2026)
- Investment forecast history via Light Reading, 2025 in review
- Market sizing: 360iResearch via Research and Markets, Mordor Intelligence, Market Research Future
- Red Sea incident: Network World (September 2025), quoting the Microsoft Azure status page
- Data watch: TeleGeography is the dominant source for bandwidth and capacity data, and many of its full datasets are paywalled, so figures here come from its public summaries. Cable counts conflict by definition: TeleGeography lists 607 in-service systems while ITU and the ICPC cite about 500, and cable length ranges from 1.48 million km (TeleGeography, early 2025) to 1.7 million km (ICPC, 2025). Market size estimates diverge more than threefold (5.89 billion to 21.69 billion dollars) because firms include different components, services and cable types; treat them as scope-dependent, not as competing measurements. The 6.4 Pbps used-bandwidth figure is end-2024 data and a newer edition is expected. Dunant (2021), Grace Hopper (2020) and MAREA capacity figures are older than three years and are shown as most recent available baselines. Lit capacity versus potential capacity by route is published in TeleGeography’s paid map data and was not available publicly. The 17% Red Sea traffic share and a widely quoted 10 billion dollar cost for Project Waterworth were excluded because we could not trace them to a primary document.
Last updated: October 3, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when TeleGeography publishes its 2027 Submarine Cable Map and its next used international bandwidth update.