Global leaders push for stronger submarine cable resilience

Governments, industry stakeholders and international organisations representing more than 70 countries have reaffirmed the importance of strengthening support for submarine cables, the critical infrastructure underpinning global digital communications

The commitment was reinforced at the International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit 2026, held in Porto, Portugal.

At the close of the summit, participants endorsed a declaration alongside a set of recommendations developed by the International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience. The guidance is intended to enhance cooperation between public and private sector stakeholders, with measures ranging from reducing repair times to improving connectivity resilience in underserved regions.

Submarine telecommunications cables carry the vast majority of global data traffic. Around 500 cables spanning more than 1.7 million km form the backbone of global connectivity, supporting economic growth, social development and digital access for individuals, institutions and businesses worldwide.

“When it comes to critical digital infrastructure like submarine cables, resilience is both an end-to-end imperative and a shared responsibility," said ITU secretary-general Doreen Bogdan-Martin.

“The Porto Summit outcomes reaffirm our commitment to strengthening global cooperation that can make a real difference in policy engagement, operational readiness, and investment decisions."

The summit was organised by Portugal’s national communications regulator, ANACOM, in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC). It also hosted a meeting of the International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience, established by ITU and ICPC in 2024.

“I am deeply proud to have had the unique opportunity to guide such a distinguished group of leaders from both the public and private sectors, representing all regions of the world," said Sandra Maximiano, chairwoman of ANACOM and Co-Chair of the Advisory Body.

“The International Advisory Body was created to deliver concrete and meaningful impact, and I firmly believe it is already doing so. This impact is particularly significant for regions, countries, and remote islands where economic incentives for rapid response mechanisms are more limited, rendering them especially vulnerable to submarine cable disruptions."

Building on the inaugural summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, last year, the Porto gathering marked the second in-person meeting of the Advisory Body.

The recommendations presented in Porto focus on streamlining submarine cable permitting, maintenance and repair processes, improving legal and regulatory frameworks, and promoting geographic diversity and redundancy. Particular emphasis is placed on strengthening resilience for Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and other underserved regions.

Additional guidance encourages the adoption of industry best practices for risk assessment and response, improved cable protection through better marine planning, and increased investment in training, innovation and new technologies. Comprehensive reports based on the Advisory Body’s work are expected to be released later in the year.

“It is encouraging to see the cooperation between governments and industry in developing these recommendations," said ICPC Chairman Dean Veverka. “We look forward to their implementation to strengthen cable protection and resilience."

Subsea cables carry more than 99% of international data traffic, with over 200 cable faults reported globally each year. Disruptions can have significant consequences for economies, public services and access to information, directly affecting the daily lives of billions of people around the world.

Partnership strengthens digital access for timbuktoo University Innovation Pods in Sierra Leone and The Gambia. (Image source: UNDP)

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has entered into a partnership with Africell to strengthen digital connectivity at timbuktoo University Innovation Pods (UniPods) in Sierra Leone and The Gambia, supporting young innovators with the infrastructure needed to develop and scale impactful solutions

Under the collaboration, Africell will supply critical digital connectivity services to the UniPods, including 4G MiFi devices, high-speed internet access, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. These resources will enable students and early-stage innovators to design, test, and expand solutions addressing both local and global development challenges.

Ziad Dalloul, Africell Group CEO and president of the Africell Impact Foundation, commented, “This collaboration plays to everyone’s strengths by combining Africell’s connectivity expertise with UNDP’s innovation network. By equipping the UniPods in Sierra Leone and The Gambia with Africell’s signature internet services, we are investing in young Africans and helping to turn raw talent into successful enterprise”.

The partnership extends beyond connectivity provision. UNDP and Africell will jointly develop innovation and accelerator programmes aimed at increasing participation within the UniPods and enhancing their long-term social and economic impact. These initiatives will draw on robotics, entrepreneurship, and digital skills training already delivered by the Africell Impact Foundation through its network of learning centres across West Africa.

The agreement aligns with UNDP’s broader objective of strengthening Africa’s locally driven innovation ecosystem through the timbuktoo initiative, which focuses on unlocking opportunities for young entrepreneurs and technology-driven startups across the continent.

Emphasising the importance of access to digital infrastructure, Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant UN Secretary General and Director of UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, said, “Digital inclusion is key to Africa’s innovation future. This partnership expands digital access and gives young innovators the connectivity they need to turn ideas into impactful solutions. When we invest in young people’s talents and remove barriers to opportunity, we accelerate Africa’s path to competitiveness, and inclusive growth”.

UNDP’s UniPods are advanced maker and innovation spaces hosted within public universities, designed to equip young people with the tools, technologies, and skills required to transform ideas into market-ready products and services. The UniPods form part of UNDP’s wider timbuktoo programme, which also includes Policy Labs and several thematic industry hubs located in major African cities, all aimed at catalysing investment and innovation across the continent.

Vertiv introduces Next Predict, an AI-driven managed service enabling predictive maintenance across power, cooling, and IT systems. (Image source: Vertiv)

Vertiv has launched Vertiv Next Predict, an AI-powered managed service designed to revolutionise data centre maintenance

Moving beyond traditional time-based and reactive approaches, the service industrialises operations by analysing asset behaviour before risks occur. Next Predict represents the latest enhancement in Vertiv’s integrated AI infrastructure portfolio, providing predictive intelligence across power, cooling, and IT systems to establish a unified, resilient foundation for AI-driven data centres.

As AI workloads transform the data centre environment, facilities require greater visibility and control over critical infrastructure to ensure continuous performance at scale. By adopting advanced analytics and predictive maintenance strategies, organisations can proactively address these challenges and maintain reliable operations across distributed environments.

“Data centre operators need innovative technologies to stay ahead of potential risks, as compute intensity rises and infrastructures evolve,” said Ryan Jarvis, vice president of the global services business unit at Vertiv.

“Vertiv Next Predict helps data centres unlock uptime, shifting maintenance from traditional calendar-based routines to a proactive, data-driven strategy. We move from assumptions to informed decisions, by continuously monitoring equipment condition and enabling risk mitigation before potential impacts to operations.”

Vertiv Next Predict uses AI-based anomaly detection to continuously monitor operating conditions and identify deviations from expected behaviour at an early stage. A predictive algorithm evaluates potential operational impacts to determine risk and prioritise response. Root cause analysis isolates contributing factors to support efficient, targeted resolution. Based on system data and the operational context, prescriptive actions are defined and executed, with corrective measures carried out by qualified Vertiv Services personnel.

Built for versatility and future growth, Vertiv Next Predict currently supports a broad and expanding range of Vertiv power and cooling platforms, including battery energy storage solutions and liquid cooling components. The service is designed for scalability, enabling seamless integration with future data centre technologies as part of a unified, grid-to-chip architecture. This approach allows customers to adopt Next Predict today while ensuring the service can evolve alongside their infrastructure requirements.

Vertiv Services brings decades of experience in critical digital infrastructure, a global network of trained technicians, and AI-powered analytics.

For more information about Vertiv Next Predict or Vertiv’s end-to-end power and thermal management solutions, including the OneCore scalable prefabricated data centre infrastructure solution, SmartRun modular overhead IT infrastructure system, and Vertiv’s expanding portfolio for AI and high-density workloads, visit Vertiv’s website.

Cassava and AXON leverage AI and fibre networks to deliver Africa’s first real-time, scalable Operator-as-a-Service. (Image source: Cassava Technolgies)

Cassava Technologiesand AXON Networks have announced a strategic partnership to co-develop, deploy, and manage Africa’s first end-to-end Operator-as-a-Service (OaaS) platform

This collaboration represents a bold step toward unlocking Africa’s AI and digital potential. Customers and service providers will leverage AXON’s AI-ready, real-time, multi-tenant, digital twin-enabled platform across Cassava’s extensive high-speed fibre network to connect millions of people and businesses, opening new avenues for economic growth and innovation.

The partnership was officially unveiled at the Counder Conference 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa, the flagship event of the Counder visionary leadership network, which gathers 500 global investors, family office principals, and corporate decision-makers for one of the largest private capital events ever held in the Southern Hemisphere.

Hardy Pemhiwa, President & Group CEO of Cassava Technologies, said: “As businesses of all sizes continue to digitise their operations, the need is for cost-effective, flexible, high-performance network solutions that reduce time-consuming manual design and configurations. By partnering with AXON Networks, we are moving beyond traditional hardware-centric infrastructure to create a truly programmable, AI-managed network, which will significantly reduce operational costs and increase access to customers and service providers.

“This transformation allows us to treat our pan-continental fibre network as a dynamic digital platform, enabling us to provision and modify customer networks in near real-time, rather than days or weeks. We are going beyond connectivity to becoming a partner in the digital transformation journeys of our customers.”

The AI-first OaaS platform lays the foundation for accelerated digital transformation for African enterprises of all sizes, including telecommunications service providers. It will deliver secure, private, high-speed data infrastructure, providing mobile network operators, LEO satellite providers, and ISPs with unprecedented agility, intelligence, and reach. The platform is designed to help these service providers unlock new opportunities for growth, innovation, and AI adoption.

Martin Manniche, CEO and founder of AXON Networks, added: “Partnering with Cassava, with its unmatched fibre footprint across the continent and investment in AI-enabled data centres, to integrate our Operator-as-a-Service platform with real-time digital twin technology at this scale, is incredibly exciting. We’re not just mirroring networks — we’re virtualising an entire infrastructure into a live AI-driven ecosystem that will leverage this extensive backbone, including Cassava’s planned AI-powered factory, to bring growth, prosperity, and the promise of AI sovereignty to Africa and its people. This is a transformational opportunity to provide the foundational platform for the AI economy across the African continent and redefine the future for generations to come, and we couldn’t have found a better partner than Cassava to bring this vision to fruition.”

Michel Weiss, Founding Partner and CEO of Counder, and Leonard Stiegeler, Founding Partner and Chairman, said: “We are honored that Cassava Technologies and AXON Networks have chosen Counder Conference 2026 as the platform for this groundbreaking announcement. This partnership exemplifies exactly what Counder is designed to foster: trusted connections between visionary leaders that spark meaningful collaboration and drive tangible impact. When world-class organizations come together in Cape Town to advance their work in emerging trends & markets, we see the power of our mission in action: connecting leaders to collaborate on tomorrow's most important opportunities.”

AXON’s OaaS solution creates a living, dynamic model of Cassava’s fibre network, which spans over 110,000 km of terrestrial and submarine fibre, satellite capacity, and wireless connectivity. By transforming networks into self-learning, autonomous, and self-optimising systems, AXON’s Digital Twin technology simplifies operations, accelerates service delivery, introduces cost efficiencies, and ensures resilient connectivity at scale.