Just saw [this post](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrivNA3LNel/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=) and I know it’s a very oversimplification, but what are these cables and what do they exactly do ? And who repairs, manages these cables.
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They don’t necessarily “provide” the internet, they’re just the highways internet traffic uses to travel on. So if you’re in India and log on to Facebook, it may pass through China and over the pacific via an undersea cable to facebook’s US servers, and then back. Keep in mind this is all happening at the speed light so traversing the planet doesn’t cause as many delays as you’d think.
Who owns them? Any sizable telecoms company (AT&T, Verizon, Tata, Orange, etc), big tech company (Microsoft, google, Facebook) and many governments at least share – if not downright own – some undersea cables. Many times they’re a collaboration between telecoms companies because they’re expensive. For instance, AT&T and China Telecom agree to build a cable from Shanghai to Los Angeles and split the costs and later, the traffic.
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