By: Ivo Ivanov

This has been an uncertain year for businesses. Geopolitical tensions, regional conflicts, economic volatility, and more than half of the world’s population taking to the polls in the largest democratic exercise in history. This uncertainty created friction in the form of higher costs, surging interest rates, and tapering demand, with analysts toward the end of 2023 warning of a potential global recession. Yet businesses are nothing if not resilient, and many have found opportunity amid the uncertainty, with the OECD now projecting a 3.3 percent increase in global trade in 2025, up from just 2.3 percent in 2024.

Trade is a force to be reckoned with, and as the economy rebounds and businesses once again find their footing following a period of tumult and change, fresh emphasis is being placed on the role of digital infrastructure in bridging continents and supporting business expansion. The global economy relies on interconnected operations, to the extent that connectivity could reasonably be described as a company’s — or a region’s — most valuable asset. In a world where competitive advantage is tightly bound to connectivity, businesses require reliable, seamless data pathways to manage operations and deliver services efficiently across borders. Yet, despite the accelerating digital needs of international companies, significant infrastructure challenges stand in the way, curtailing the potential of global commerce. It’s only now that trade has begun its steady rebound that these challenges are being given the attention they deserve.

Companies with operations spanning multiple regions and continents face hurdles that often go unnoticed but have far-reaching effects — from vulnerable undersea and terrestrial cables to escalating costs in global network management. Adding to this, the regulatory landscape in many regions imposes strict requirements around data localization, leaving companies navigating a labyrinth of regional compliance. These issues not only increase operational costs but create a bottleneck in digital transformation efforts, impeding competitiveness and innovation, often on a national scale. The need to bridge these digital divides is more pressing than ever, calling for resilient, scalable solutions that can foster efficient cross-continent connectivity and support the global economy’s next chapter.

From Borders to Barriers

There are several barriers reinforcing the digital connectivity divide. One primary barrier is the physical vulnerability of subsea and terrestrial cables. These essential data transit pathways are susceptible to damage from natural events like earthquakes and current abrasion, as well as human activities. Internet connectivity between parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe experienced a sudden slowdown earlier this year when three cables were damaged in the Red Sea – an international choke point for maritime trade – leading to headlines such as Red Sea Cable Damage Reveals Soft Underbelly of Global Economy.

Further, while submarine cables traverse oceans to connect continents, sometimes it’s the land in between the coastlines that causes challenges. The high concentration of cable landing stations in a single location can represent a single point of failure for cross-continental connectivity. As network specialist Roderick Beck recently pointed out, this is a risk posed by the concentration of transatlantic subsea cables landing in Cornwall, England. Terrestrial connectivity between the cable landing stations and the hubs where the data traffic is destined for, not to mention the last mile, is the next piece of the puzzle.

Traditional IP transit services compound the problem through their lack of performance or security guarantees. Without control over routing paths or the number of network hops needed to get data traffic from A to B, companies frequently experience unpredictable latency and potential security vulnerabilities. Data packets often traverse inefficient routes, leading to delays and poor application performance. The lack of transparency in IP transit can leave businesses blind to these inefficiencies as they grapple with new AI-based deployments and operations.

Then there are the regulatory constraints. Most large economies enforce strict data protection laws that require information to be stored and processed within national borders or according to national policy. This requires the use of local cloud regions and localized routing for sensitive data, which, while important, can impede the flow of information across borders and add friction to operations. This may include leasing capacity, investing in redundant pathways to mitigate risks, and coordinating with various regional network providers to build and maintain a functional network. Even for businesses that see this as a viable option, the cost and sheer complexity of managing a global network in-house can be prohibitive and lead to further inefficiencies.

The Next Generation of Connectivity

We’ve established some of the key barriers to international connectivity, so what about the solutions? One idea is to use non-overlapping cable routes, which minimizes the risk of disruption by providing alternative paths if one connection is compromised. By prioritizing this form of “redundancy”, businesses can safeguard themselves against the physical vulnerabilities of subsea and terrestrial cables. To ensure robust connectivity between the Americas and Europe, for example, diverse paths and multiple destinations are needed — and here, Southern Europe, with its wealth of