Almost all of the world's internet traffic does not travel by satellite but through fibre-optic cables lying on the ocean floor, a hidden web of wires crossing the deepest parts of the sea to connect the continents. (opens in new tab)

The great majority of data that crosses between continents travels through fibre-optic cables on the seabed, not through satellites. Estimates put the share at somewhere between 95 and 99 per cent of international traffic. Satellites, for all their visibility, carry the remainder. The word to watch is “all.” The figure is about traffic that crosses […]