UK proposes security duties and direction powers for subsea cable firms

UK proposes security duties and direction powers for subsea cable firms

22 October 2026: The UK government has published a White Paper proposing statutory security and resilience duties for companies that provide subsea telecoms cable infrastructure, a power for the Secretary of State to direct them on national security grounds, and prison sentences of up to 14 years for intentionally damaging undersea telecoms and energy infrastructure. It opens a 12-week public consultation aimed at industry, experts and the public.

Not yet independently verified. The government has not published a closing date for the consultation beyond its 12-week length, and we have not read the White Paper itself, only the government's announcement of it. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Four sets of proposals

The White Paper covers four areas, as the government's notes list them:

• new offences, stronger penalties and new enforcement measures against harmful conduct towards telecoms and energy undersea infrastructure, with up to 14 years for intentional damage and unlimited fines for those who damage it recklessly;
• statutory security and resilience duties for subsea telecoms cable infrastructure providers;
• a national security direction power letting the Secretary of State direct providers of subsea telecoms cable infrastructure and of repair capability, where necessary and proportionate;
• a regulatory regime for the national security risks of sensing technologies installed on subsea fibre-optic cables, including those built into telecoms and energy infrastructure.

The government says the cables carry around 99% of the UK's international data and that undersea pipelines provide 74% of its gas.

Old law, new pressure

The existing law is about 140 years old; The Register identifies it as the Submarine Telegraph Act 1885, whose maximum fine was £100. "Some of the laws protecting these vital connections date back more than a century," said Telecoms Minister Ian Murray. The government describes the network as already highly resilient, with most faults caused by anchors, trawler nets, environmental hazards or technical failures, and gives increasingly observed suspicious activity around undersea infrastructure as the reason to act now.

Who should respond

The duties and the direction power fall on providers of subsea telecoms cable infrastructure and on the firms that repair cables. The sensing regime reaches further, because it covers sensing technology on any subsea fibre-optic cable, including cables built into energy infrastructure, so suppliers and operators of that equipment would come under a national security regime for the first time. Energy Minister Michael Shanks and Security Minister Dan Jarvis set out the case alongside Murray, and the government says the consultation is meant to help shape the final proposals.

Responses are invited over 12 weeks from 22 October; the announcement gives no closing date, and any legislation would follow the consultation.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Subsea cable saboteurs face jail and unlimited fines under new security crackdown, 22 October 2026
• The Register: UK threatens subsea cable saboteurs with 14 years behind bars, 23 October 2026