The need for more international communications capacity driven in part by the growth in access to cloud services including those using artificial intelligence has led to the continued expansion of the mesh of submarine cables that encircle the world.

For example, the new Medusa subsea cable will thread through the Mediterranean connecting Lisbon with countries such as Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Malta, Libya, Algeria, and Egypt. The cable will contain 24 optical fibre pairs each carrying 20 Terabits per second for a total system capacity of 480 Terabits per second.

Google, meanwhile, has announced its intention to deliver another high capacity transatlantic cable linking the USA with Bermuda, the Azores, and Spain.

PTT’s new online course “Optical line systems” explains the principles of the technologies that enable these high capacity, low latency connections. The course also gives up-to-date information about the capabilities, components and operation of the optical links that provide interconnections for telecommunications and cloud service providers over land as well under the sea.