The Vodafone Group and Vodafone Ukraine are set to work together in building a new undersea cable in the Black Sea that will connect Europe and Asia while bypassing Russia. According to The Express, work on the Kardesa submarine cable system is projected to begin in 2027 in Bulgaria, with other countries following suit soon thereafter. It will also go through war-torn Ukraine, but only in internationally recognized safe zones. The project is expected to cost over €100,000,000 (more than $116 million) but will improve connectivity in the countries it connects and maybe even spark further investments in data centers and AI. More than that, it bypasses Russia, which has been suspected of sabotaging several undersea cables starting in late 2024.
At the moment, the Submarine Cable Map only shows a single undersea cable crossing the entirety of the Black Sea, connecting Georgia to Bulgaria. While there are a couple of other cables in the region, they mostly connect neighboring countries like Russia and Georgia, and Bulgaria and Turkey. The Kardesa project will interconnect the three neighboring countries — Georgia, Turkey, and Bulgaria — and then cross the sea to land in Ukraine, adding another connection point between Europe and Asia that does not go through the Mediterranean.
