Rui Faria of Angola Cables Joins Global Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience
Rui Faria joins ITU’s Advisory Body to enhance global submarine cable resilience and data infrastructure.
Angola Cables has announced that its Executive Board Member and Chief Commercial Officer, Rui Faria has been appointed as a member of the recently formed International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Agency for Digital Technologies, and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), the leading industry organisation promoting submarine cable protection, recently announced the establishment of the International Advisory Body.
Subsea cables and related infrastructure form the essential framework for the global digital economy, facilitating over 99% of international data exchange enabling communication, finance, cloud services, and critical infrastructure to operate seamlessly across borders. Yet, despite their critical importance, submarine cables face a range of vulnerabilities, from natural disasters to accidental damage. With the world’s reliance on stable, high-speed internet growing every day, the resilience and protection of these cables against natural and human hazards is paramount.
Commenting on his appointment, Faria said that the Advisory Body has an essential role to play in protecting the future integrity of these vital intercontinental, undersea cables.
As a company, we have been providing technical support to an extensive scientific research project being done by the Department of Geography and Earth Science at Durham University in the UK into the cause and impact of the natural occurring cable failures that have taken place in the Congo River Canyon Crossing in West Africa.
With more cables coming into operation in the future, more efforts will need to be made in identifying and mitigating accidental damage or other existential risks that can negatively impact submarine cable networks,” notes Faria, “and makes the task of this multi-stakeholder advisory body that much more important.
– Rui Faria, Executive Board Member and Chief Commercial Officer, Angola Cables
As one of the 42 Advisory Body members’, Faria with more than 30 years of experience in working in the subsea cable environment in Africa, was invited by the Angolan Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies, and Social Communication (MINTTICS) to take up this advisory role as the government looks to diversify its economy and improve telecoms infrastructure within the country.
The multi-stakeholder working group includes Ministers, Heads of Regulatory Authorities, industry executives, and senior experts on the operations of telecommunication cables. It will bring together governments, regulatory authorities, industry leaders, and key stakeholders in areas related to enhancing the safety, redundancy, and protection of submarine cables.
Consultation, cooperation and collaboration between countries and all stakeholders, technical and scientific will ensure that together, we can implement better measures to safeguard submarine cable infrastructure and the integrity of the undersea data corridors, the lifeblood of our global, digital enabled economy.
– Rui Faria, Executive Board Member and Chief Commercial Officer, Angola Cables
