The Web Beneath the Waves: The Fragile Cables that Connect Our World

by Samanth Subramanian

What if the Internet goes dark?

We think of the Internet as wireless, weightless, ever-present—but its true foundation lies in the ocean’s depths, where nearly 900,000 miles of fiber-optic cables quietly pulse with all the world’s information.

In The Web Beneath the Waves, the acclaimed journalist Samanth Subramanian travels from remote Pacific islands to secretive cable-laying operations to reveal the astonishing world of undersea infrastructure. He reveals the fate of Tonga after a volcanic eruption severs its only undersea link to the Internet, meets the men and women engaged in the fiendishly complex work of laying submarine cables, and scrutinizes the acts of “grey zone warfare,” in which ghost ships cut the cables of other countries.

Subramanian charts the deep geopolitical tensions, corporate power grabs, environmental risks, and quiet heroics involved in maintaining the Internet’s unseen circulatory system. With his signature clarity and curiosity, he brings to life the cables that stitch continents together—and exposes just how vulnerable our connected lives really are. This is narrative nonfiction at its most urgent and a book that asks what happens when the world goes offline, and who controls the switch.

Genres: Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Expected publication December 16, 2025

About the author

Samanth Subramanian is the India correspondent for The National and the author of two books of reportage, "Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast" and "This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War." His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Intelligent Life, Aeon, Mint, Travel + Leisure, and Caravan, among other publications. His longer reported articles occupy the confluence of politics, culture and history, examining the impact of these forces upon life and society; his shorter pieces include op-eds, cultural criticism, and book reviews.

He also co-hosts The Intersection, a fortnightly science and culture podcast from Audiomatic.

"This Divided Island" won the 2015 Crossword Prize for Non Fiction and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Non Fiction Prize the same year. "Following Fish" won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize in 2010 and was shortlisted for the Andre Simon Award in 2013.

Samanth Subramanian grew up in Madras, and he lives and works in New Delhi.

Reviews

[Erin Cook]

outstanding. my only gripe is it constantly refers to time periods based on North American seasons. what does 'late Spring' mean? I wish these American published books would stop doing that and be more exact. especially because we're not talking about the US! how is a US season the preferable marker of time when talking about Cote d'Ivoire?

[Santosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samanth beautifully puts across something that I've always felt - that the facade of our world as digital makes it so easy to forget the material nature of everything. This is a fantastic look behind the facade and at the true face of the world. The cables mark a towering achievement of humanity as a whole, though we are mostly unaware of it and take it for granted. The amount of work that goes into this and the number of people who are so dedicated to this just makes me smile in satisfaction. Great, short read!