Officials from both Europe and Asia have once again called for greater protection of subsea cables.

It follows on from an open letter sent by some of Europe’s biggest telecom operators and cable industry companies in April, urging European, UK, and NATO decision-makers to bolster security measures against the critical infrastructure.

Those companies included Alcatel Submarine Networks, GlobalConnect, NKT, Orange, Proximus, Sparkle, Telefónica, Telenor, and Vodafone.

So far this year, there have been several cases of subsea cables being damaged, notably in the Baltic Sea and near Taiwan.

The Baltic Sea incident was deemed to be accidental by several US and European intelligence officials, however, Taiwan deemed its incident deliberate and charged a Chinese ship captain with intentionally damaging subsea cables off the island earlier this year.

Last week, Sparkle reiterated the concerns that several telcos and subsea cable companies have around protecting subsea cable infrastructure, which transmits global Internet across the globe.

Sparkle is the subsea cable unit of Telecom Italia (TIM), and is set to be acquired by a consortium led by the Italian treasury for €700 million ($803m).

Speaking before the Italian Senate, the company's CEO Enrico Bagnasco called for improved coordination between civil, military, and international authorities, in order to better protect submarine cable infrastructure, as reported by Mobile Europe.

He spoke during a parliamentary hearing on proposed legislation concerning underwater infrastructure. Bagnasco welcomed the draft law as a key step toward safeguarding Italy’s role in global connectivity.

The bill will look to introduce streamlined permitting processes, improved coordination among civil and military authorities, and enhanced protection of undersea cables within Italy’s jurisdiction.

Others are also vocal about subsea cable security. In the UK, Professor Aurel Sari, from the University of Exeter Law School, "warned that there are significant gaps in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea."

During a Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy last month, Sari noted that these gaps leave the UK's maritime infrastructure, such as its subsea cables, particularly exposed to malign interference.

According to Sari, the law of the sea provides coastal states like the United Kingdom with "only limited means to protect their submarine communication cables."

“These shortcomings should be addressed as a matter of priority," he said, per Exeter University.

It's not just been the European telecoms sector pushing for a better defense of subsea infrastructure. Defense officials from Southeast Asia have also outlined the need for change.

“We need to work together to defend the entire network,” said Singapore Defense Minister Chan Chun Sing at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security forum over the weekend, as reported by Bloomberg.

“There’s no point trying to defend the integrity and security of a submarine cable by looking at a point. We need both ends to be secure.”

During the forum, representatives from the Philippines and Thailand also highlighted the need to protect the submarine infrastructure.

Last year, Vietnam saw three out of the five subsea cables that connect the country go down, including the Intra Asia (IA) connection to Singapore.