2024-06-12 15:23:26
The Phocaean city has become a strategic point for “digital highways” with a high number of data centers and 16 submarine cables… But is Marseille capitalizing on its strategic position? Interview with researcher Loup Cellard.
In 2021, in Marseille, the landing on the beaches of Prado du PEACE MED cable (Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe – Mediterranean section) which interconnects ten ports located in the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, has given rise to the publication of Frictions sous-marinesthe first research article which synthesizes the various impact studies of these installations on the Phocaean coast. Loup Cellardsociologist, researcher for the Dataactivist cooperativeand co-author of the article with Clement Marquet (Mines Paris), details for us the strategic interest of cables for municipalities, the risks they present, and the way in which their deployment is decided, then implemented.
Why did you become interested in Marseille?
Loup Cellard : Because Marseille is becoming one of the world’s largest hubs. In the ranking of the most interconnected cities, it comes in seventh position. This is why there are a lot of land-based developments being carried out, with new interconnection points created when cables arrive, and many data centers being built, to the point that the city and the metropolis are struggling to meet demand. Of course, there are also developments under the sea to run the cables.
How is the route of these cables determined and what is their impact on biodiversity?
LP: Each project must be submitted to the departmental services. The decision depends on an impact study carried out in advance by a consulting firm. There are a battery of tests that must be carried out, particularly underwater with divers who will trace the path taken by the cable. The installation project we were interested in was managed by Chinese Hengtong Group (the largest manufacturer of power cables and optical fibers in China – Editor’s note) and it was Orange Networks which was chosen to carry out this operation, in particular because of its mastery of French administrative procedures.
The main problem is that the cable we studied passes through areas ofPosidonia herbariuma marine species important for biodiversity, because it is where fish lay their eggs. It is also a carbon sink. Impact studies had advised crossing these protected natural areas rather than going around them, arguing the possibility of cohabitation between cables and ecosystems.
And indeed, if the cable is well fixed, the seagrass beds will regenerate after two or three years. But this ecological assessment is done as part of a service between a consulting firm and a large company in the telecommunications sector, with results that can be biased. In reality, it is very difficult to know precisely what is happening on the seabed.
What is the scope for state intervention?
LP: Cables are of strategic interest for reasons of sovereignty in a context where new European legislation means that cloud operators must be able to show their customers that their data is physically stored in France.
What is interesting on the scale of Marseille is that where the State is most present and most powerful is in the Grand Port Autonome (GPMM). It is even the majority shareholder. It is an extremely secure enclave in which it really has a lot of rights. But when a data center is installed outside this perimeter, it is automatically on land that depends on the city or that is private. The action that the State can take therefore varies depending on the location of the infrastructures.
It should be noted that the PEACE MED cable was laid on the Prado beaches in the historic arrival area, which encourages “path dependency”, i.e. the grouping of these installations in the same place.
So depending on the situation, it is not the same actors who have the upper hand?
LP: In the situation where many cables remain at the bottom of the sea for decades, there is a lack of clarity about the responsibility of the actors. For several years, the Calanques National Park warns that they should be removed from the seabed, but it is unclear who is responsible for removing them.
Is there a desire, on the part of operators and municipalities, to aim for the least impact?
LP: Minimizing the impacts is the general logic. But each time, there is a conciliation that must be made between a multitude of interests, the ecological question being only one issue among others. There is the question of safety, both of the cables and of the boaters, the problem of maritime transport at the level of the autonomous port and the fact that Marseille is an ancient city, with many archaeological remains under the sea. There is therefore a specific regulation which means that, for the cable that we studied, two years passed between the time when the sponsor submitted the project and the time when it received the green light.
When the cables are put into service, the data rate becomes much higher, which requires building new data centers. So there is a very strong interconnection between these two types of infrastructure?
LP: Absolutely. One necessarily depends on the other. Digital Realitya very powerful player who saw before anyone else that Marseille was going to become a stronghold of digital technology, designed a specific socket within the Autonomous Port. Thanks to this technology, as soon as a cable arrives at the Port, it is more easily connected to a data center. It is therefore an endless loop.
This means that to understand the impact of a cable, it would be necessary to identify all the externalities. Is the city of Marseille thinking along these lines?
LP: We haven’t seen this type of thinking. On the other hand, elected officials have clearly taken charge of the issue of data centers. Since the end of 2023, a battery of criteria has been established by the municipality, from the number of jobs created to energy consumption and the land required, in order to put economic players in competition. Despite everything, the city is suffering from the situation. It has few levers to pull, except when the data center is planned on public land, because it will be able to preempt it.
In your opinion, are we moving towards stronger regulation of these infrastructures?
LP: That’s for sure. But it will depend on how the risks are assessed… By choosing to have the cable arrive at Prado and not in the Port Autonome, Orange is contributing to the increase in the density of cables approaching Marseille’s beaches. Generally speaking, the analysis of the risks weighing on submarine cables does not benefit from an overall vision.
1722038052
#Seventh #global #hub #Internet #traffic #Marseille #baby
