Submarine Cables: Commission Suggests Phase-Out of High-Risk Vendors

The EU Commission recommends phasing out high-risk vendors from submarine cables to bolster security, without proposing new funding.By Théophane Hartmann, www.euractiv.com
February 15, 2024

The European Commission’s submarine cable recommendation, seen by Euractiv, suggests phasing out risky providers of telecom subsea cables but does not propose any new form of financial assistance.

Following the sabotage of a telecom submarine cable in the Baltic Sea by a Chinese vessel in October, the Council of the EU asked the Commission to come up with a recommendation for enhancing the security and resilience of subsea cable infrastructure.

Euractiv could see a draft version of the non-binding document before the official publication of the recommendation on 21 February.

“Member states are encouraged […] to reduce risks, vulnerabilities and dependencies, in particular on high-risk suppliers,” reads the draft document.

High-risk vendors

The Commission suggests creating a “Submarine Cable Infrastructure Expert Group” that would be tasked with “putting forward a Cable Security Toolbox”.

The toolbox appears to be conceived as an instrument similar to the EU Toolbox on 5G cybersecurity – a non-binding instrument “setting out mitigating measures” for member states which aim to reduce risks and vulnerabilities “in particular on high-risk suppliers”.

Within the 5G toolbox, EU countries are encouraged to phase out Chinese suppliers of telecom infrastructure – ZTE and Huawei – which could mean that Huawei’s subsidiary HMN Tech could be equally restricted or banned from rolling out submarine cables.

Funding

Yet, the Commission does not propose additional resources to help with the phasing out of high-risk vendors but lists EU and national funding programmes as solutions.

However, the Commission does foresee extra investments.

It wants to task the expert group, working jointly with the Commission, with setting up a prioritised list of “Cable Projects of European Interest” based on the following criteria: enhanced resilience of infrastructure, supply chain security, geostrategic importance, and public necessity.

As the EU has no competence over security, toolboxes and recommendations are non-binding, which may be why no extra funding instrument is suggested.

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