Page 11 - Connecting the Future How Connectivity and AI Unlock New Potential

Connecting the Future: How Connectivity and AI Unlock New Potential

To ensure uninterrupted data flow, physical hardening against disruptions like undersea earth-
quakes, human interference, or cable dragging is essential. Redundant networks should provide
transmission capacity for AI companies to prevent interruptions from cable failures or over-tasking.
Additionally, robust cybersecurity protections are crucial to safeguard data privacy and integrity.
Above all, to avoid limiting the benefits of AI applications, submarine cable networks must be
resilient, redundant, and secure.
1�2�2 Terrestrial Fiber

Fixed fiber comprises the bulk of data transmission connected to subsea cables, with public and
private enterprises collaborating to connect communities to the Internet. Yet despite years of
targeted investment, fiber coverage with speeds necessary for AI lags considerably, including in
developed economies. In the United States, just 51% of households have access to cable or fiber
connections capable of 1,000 Mbps download speeds and 100 Mbps upload speeds that are
necessary for advanced AI systems. Certainly, not all homes may require such performance yet,
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however future AI applications may require that expanded coverage for scaled benefits.

Cost continues to limit universal fiber coverage, as laying new cables can cost between USD 60,000-
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80,000 per mile. In the pursuit of universal access to AI benefits, however, governments can work
to incentivize such projects with financial and regulatory support until viable alternative networks
can attain sufficient speed and capacity to support AI data requirements.

1�2�3 Mobile Networks

Mobile phones provide the most common gateway to the Internet in many countries, with over 80%
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of the global population over the age of ten owning a personal device and over 92% of the world’s
population reached with at least 4G service. And licensed fixed wireless service for homes and
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businesses is rapidly growing, particularly in Western Europe and North America, with more than
330 million fixed wireless access (FWA) connections expected globally by 2029. 21
Still, the ITU’s 2024 Facts and Figures brief further reveals that although 4G mobile coverage
reaches over 90% of the global population, only 55% of people in low-income countries actually

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