The Strait of Hormuz is widely known as one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, with a significant share of global oil shipments passing through the narrow waterway. But the strategic passage is also emerging as an important hub for global digital infrastructure.
As geopolitical tensions escalate in West Asia, experts warn that the same corridor that carries oil tankers also hosts a dense network of undersea fibre optic cables that are crucial for India’s international internet connectivity.
Any disruption in this region could therefore affect not only energy markets but also the digital networks that power India’s internet, cloud services and global data flows.
The hidden infrastructure behind the internet
Most global internet traffic does not travel via satellites. Instead, it moves through fibre optic cables laid across the ocean floor.
These submarine cables carry emails, financial transactions, cloud data, video calls and nearly all forms of cross-border digital communication.
The Strait of Hormuz and surrounding Gulf waters have become an important transit route for these cables connecting Asia with Europe and the Middle East.
According to a report by The Times of India, the waterway is “a critical global shipping route” that is also “emerging as a vulnerable corridor for undersea internet cables as tensions in West Asia escalate.”
Because multiple cable systems converge in this narrow region, geopolitical instability could expose critical digital infrastructure to new risks.
Why the Strait of Hormuz matters for India’s internet
India’s global internet connectivity depends heavily on submarine cables that run westwards through the Arabian Sea and the Gulf before connecting to Europe and other regions.
This makes the Strait of Hormuz a vital digital gateway for India’s international data traffic. The passage controls about a third of India’s westward internet traffic. That means a significant portion of the country’s cross-border data exchange flows through networks that pass through or near this maritime chokepoint.
These data flows support a wide range of digital services, including cloud computing platforms, international banking and financial networks, global enterprise operations, and social media and streaming services hosted abroad.
Because these routes offer some of the shortest and fastest connectivity paths between Asia and Europe, they carry enormous volumes of digital traffic.
A growing concentration of submarine cables
The Gulf region hosts several long-distance fibre optic networks linking South Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
These cable systems stretch thousands of kilometres along the seabed and connect multiple landing stations across continents.
Industry experts note that the region is witnessing massive investments in new digital infrastructure.
“Several sovereign and private players have committed billions of capital in constructing new cables in the Gulf seas and the region is expected to see near doubling of capacity in the coming years,” Amajit Gupta, group CEO and managing director of network infrastructure firm Lightstorm, told The Economic Times.
The growing concentration of cables in the region, however, also increases vulnerability if geopolitical tensions escalate.
How conflict could disrupt submarine cables
There are several ways in which instability in the Strait of Hormuz could affect undersea cable infrastructure.
Physical damage
Submarine cables lie on the seabed and can be damaged by anchors, maritime accidents, naval activity or underwater explosions.
Even a single cable cut can disrupt large volumes of internet traffic.
Recent incidents highlight this vulnerability. According to industry sources cited by The Economic Times, previous cable cuts near Saudi Arabia had already disrupted a significant share of regional internet traffic.
“The last cuts had disrupted roughly 17% of Asia-Gulf internet traffic and rerouting that capacity has been a challenge,” an executive involved in the developments told the newspaper.
Delays in repair operations
Even when cables are damaged accidentally, they can usually be repaired by specialised ships.
But conflict zones complicate such operations.
The worsening security situation in the region has already affected repair work.
According to The Economic Times, cable repair ships that had been working in the region since September 2025 have been forced to halt operations due to security risks.
Repair operations themselves can take significant time.
“Repair operations are cumbersome, expensive, and can take several months,” the executive quoted in the report said.
If multiple cables are damaged simultaneously, restoring connectivity could become even more difficult.
Limited alternative routes
In theory, global internet traffic can be rerouted through other submarine cables.
In practice, alternative routes often lack sufficient capacity.
The Economic Times report notes that traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz “can’t be rerouted due to supply constraints on alternate routes.”
This means disruptions in the corridor could lead to congestion across other cable systems.
For users, this may translate into slower speeds, higher latency and degraded performance when accessing international services.
What it could mean for India’s digital ecosystem
If cables in or near the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted, the immediate impact on India would likely be felt in international connectivity.
Domestic internet networks within the country would continue operating normally. However, connections to overseas servers could become slower or less reliable.
This could affect services that depend heavily on global data flows, including cloud platforms used by businesses, international financial transactions, cross-border enterprise communications, and global digital services and applications.
Even routine activities such as accessing international websites or using global software platforms could experience delays if traffic congestion increases.
A new digital chokepoint
For decades, the Strait of Hormuz has been viewed primarily as an energy chokepoint because of the massive volume of oil shipments passing through it.
But the region is now emerging as an equally important digital chokepoint.
The growing tensions in the region highlight how critical global digital infrastructure has become vulnerable to geopolitical risks.
The global submarine cable network stretches over a million kilometres across the seabed, yet large volumes of data still pass through a handful of narrow maritime corridors. This concentration makes global connectivity sensitive to regional conflicts.
The bigger strategic challenge
As India’s digital economy expands and data traffic continues to grow, the resilience of international internet infrastructure is becoming a strategic concern.
New submarine cable projects are being built to expand capacity and create alternative routes. But these networks also require stable maritime corridors and secure operating conditions.
The evolving situation in the Strait of Hormuz shows how geopolitical tensions can ripple beyond energy markets and into the foundations of the digital economy.
For India, whose economy increasingly depends on global data flows, protecting and diversifying these critical undersea connections will be essential in the years ahead.
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