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Comment by rootusrootus | Hacker News Reader

> What other private companies have such cables? Google?

Aren't most of them likely to be privately owned?

Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are known to have undersea cables. I bet there are a bunch owned by companies that aren't generally known to regular people. For example, Tata, which AFAIK has the largest amount of undersea cables.

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Don't some big hedge funds/finance players also have such cables?

Maybe, but these days, I believe microwave towers are preferred, lower latency and shorter paths. https://www.rec-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/High-Freq...

And far less bandwidth. Microwave is used for ultr-low latency trading. But most financials ride subsea cables like everyone else.

What the hell does Tata need underseas cables for?

Tata is one of the largest telecoms in India and is a Tier 1 network that forms the backbone of the modern internet.

Oh...so not the consultancy agency. Got it.

Same conglomerate, different company

It's becoming apparent that many large tech companies were government-backed entities and their success was fueled by public money. Where else did they get the rights to do this kind of stuff? Surely the public owns these cables as they are built in public waters.

That's why the public also owns all off-shore oil rigs and cruise ships currently at sea?

Does the government own your car cause you drive on public roads? It is possible to build on public land if pay the government land rent, the government doesn't own the building and isn't involved in funding.

Also, international waters outside of the boundaries of countries aren't owned by anyone. They probably should be owned by UN to help with problems like overfishing.

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