Page 48: of Marine Technology Magazine (July 2021)

Trends in Subsea Telecoms

Pioneer Consulting team member oversees the landing of subsea cable. on overlapping skills. This means that the prospects for the telecommunications services marine sector is signi? cantly in? uenced (and could be dominated) by the same factors im- pacting the oil, gas, power cable, and wind farm marketplace.

To adapt to these changes, marine service companies are di- versifying their portfolios. GMSL, ASN, and SubCom have all leveraged on their subsea telecom experience to support communications to offshore oil and gas assets and offshore observatories used by scienti? c research organizations. Few have chosen to leave the telecom sector, as, although less prof- itable, it can act as a counterpoint to the energy sector to allow multi-use resources to be shared across markets.

The Future

As we look to the future, some notable trends we expect to continue include: • Greater shore end protection and deeper burial:

Twenty years ago, one-meter burial was common. As indus- trial ? sheries continue to extend their activities into deeper water, the requirements for greater cable protection at deeper depths continue to evolve as well. These trends have led to two-and three-meter burial, resulting in higher sea plow tow tensions becoming more common, particularly on high-capac- ity transoceanic systems.

• Deep-water armor for cable installations: Risks to undersea cables at deeper water depths, such as drifting Fish-

Pioneer Consulting 48 July/August 2021

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