As NATO sends ships to guard undersea cables, Zim ISPs know the fight all too well

I think as Zimbabweans we are particularly not good at maintenance. I’m not excluding myself from this criticism. We use stuff until it breaks and almost seem shocked it happened every time. 

I think in your own life you know multiple people who don’t service their cars but only visit the mechanic when something breaks down. 

This means we don’t always appreciate how much it costs to maintain stuff. 

Which is why you sometimes have to feel for the internet service providers in this country. We complain about pricing (fairly in my opinion) but have no appreciation for how much it costs to make sure you can send that ‘I miss you’ text. 

Undersea cables protected by NATO

NATO is deploying up to 10 vessels to patrol the Baltic Sea until April 2025, mainly from Finland and Estonia, in response to recent sabotage incidents involving undersea cables.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a group of countries that work together to protect each other, promising to help defend any member if they are attacked. 

Several telecommunication and energy cables have been damaged in the Baltic Sea, with four telecom cables and one power cable cut on 25 December  2024, suspected to be the work of a Russian shadow vessel.

NATO is enhancing its military presence in the Baltic region to deter potential threats and is exploring measures to protect critical undersea infrastructure, supported by the Maritime Centre for Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure.

You will remember that undersea cables are important because they carry most of the world’s internet and communication data, enabling fast and reliable global connectivity.

Concerns are rising over Russian activities in the Baltic Sea, with reports of Russian-registered vessels being monitored by Danish authorities, indicating potential espionage or sabotage operations.

Zim ISPs know this

You can see how sometimes drastic measures have to be taken to ensure you can read those Shaddaya tweets. 

Zimbabwean ISPs know this all too well and sometimes it goes underreported. While we are not dealing with supposed Russian ships sabotaging undersea cables, we have our own kinds of saboteurs here. 

Zimbabwean ISPs have been dealing with theft and vandalism of infrastructure for years. 

Econet has reported substantial financial losses resulting from the theft of diesel fuel, backup batteries, and other essential equipment from their base stations. 

TelOne has experienced revenue losses averaging US$1 million annually due to vandalism. The destruction of copper cables and other critical infrastructure.

The problem is that vandals and thieves don’t care about all this and so these companies have to foot the bill to try and protect themselves. 

They have had to increase investment in securing their sites, including implementing enhanced security measures to protect against theft and damage. 

We can help in this as customers. After all, when a thief raids the base stations that serve us, it is us who miss out on those all important Zoom meetings and whatever we use connectivity for. 

The ISPs believe community support to safeguard telecommunications infrastructure is crucial. They believe that public awareness and involvement are crucial in preventing vandalism. See something, say something. 

The regulator on its part has been advocating for stiffer penalties for offenders and lobbying Parliament to enact laws enforcing mandatory jail terms for those convicted of vandalizing telecommunication equipment.

If not that, we could see ourselves deploying soldiers to protect infrastructure like NATO is doing in the Baltic Sea.