Japan said it will invest in a new fleet of subsea-cable-laying ships, a sign of communications infrastructure becoming increasingly important to national security.
Japan’s NEC Corporation dominates cable installations in Asia, but has only one oceanic cable-laying vessel. This shortage — it is behind French, US, and especially Chinese rivals — is hitting its ability to earn new contracts.
Relying on other countries leaves Japan vulnerable to spying and sabotage, and China has laid tens of thousands of miles of cable around the world in the last decade.
Tokyo views NEC’s ship shortage and growing competitive weakness as a national security issue, and will subsidize the company’s acquisition of several $300-million vessels, the Financial Times reported.