Submarine Cable Repair Capacities - Works

Expected Impact

The expected benefits of the supported project:

• Provide quick response to emergency situations identified by the relevant Regional Cable Hub or other entity declaring the emergency situation (Key Performance Indicator).

• Provide quick average estimated time-to-repair for cable systems in the targeted EU sea basins with at least one landing point in an EU territory (Key Performance Indicator).

• Increase operational repair capacity in the main European sea basins (Key Performance Indicator).

• Strengthen the resilience of cable systems in the main European sea basins.

• Ensure digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy of the EU in the main European sea basins.

Objective

This call aims to enhance emergency response capacities and the resilience of backbone networks’ infrastructures by supporting the development and deployment of adaptable repair modules for swift emergency repair operations, enabling quick response to incidents that could severely impact the Union or its Member States.

The goal of the EU is to fund modules covering the main sea basins of the Union, the objective being to develop adaptable repair modules that can be deployed on existing vessels, as well as the necessary related operational capabilities.

The modules are expected to be rapidly operational in order to re-establish the service of submarine cables (through repair or substitution) in emergency situations, i.e. where the cut or the failure of the cable can cause a severe damage to one or more Member States, and the service disruption cannot be fixed timely by commercial services. Applicants will have to work in coordination with the authorities declaring the emergency situation, which are expected to be the future Regional Cable Hubs4.

The modules would be hosted in ports or shipyards with the capacity to install them on board of ships within a maximum of 3 days from the arrival of the vessel at the port/shipyard, following a request by the Regional Surveillance Hub envisaged in the Action Plan on Cable Security.

Scope

This call funds modular equipment for the repair of telecom submarine cables, and targets public entities with an emergency response mandate such as entities active in the civil protection, national emergency response agencies, coastguards and military navies. Each Member State will confirm the nature of the applicant in the mandatory Letter of Support.

Beneficiaries can subcontract the activities covered by this call for proposals as well as the operation of the modules for repair intervention to third parties, including publicly or privately owned entities without an emergency response mandate. However, the modules can only be used to respond to emergency situations declared by the competent authority.

The pre-configured vessels are flat deck vessels that should be able to receive the modules with minor adaptation and operational preparation, and without regulatory or technical barriers. Therefore, the proposals should demonstrate the adaptability, portability and scalability of the solution put forward.

To make sure that the modular equipment will be ready for intervention, applicants should identify at least three vessels that are or will be pre-configured for receiving the modules. Costs for pre-configuration of the vessels can be included in the proposal provided that they comply with the eligibility conditions of this call.

Applicants should explain in detail in their proposal how the vessels are already pre-configured or how they plan to carry out the above-mentioned pre-configuration, and how many pre-configured vessels will be made available. For vessels owned by third parties, applicants should provide details on lease or service level agreement guaranteeing the availability of these vessels to receive the modules over their economic lifespan (at least 10 years).

Proposals should also demonstrate solid implementation plans, including the definition of compatible specifications for the vessels and the different types of modules, project’s phasing (design, production-level deployment, operation), governance, allocation policies, financial aspects, as well as the rationale for the choice of the storage and installation locations. To this purpose, it is crucial that the proposals clearly demonstrate effective, reliable and efficient coordination with all relevant stakeholders, especially the entity declaring the emergency situation which is expected to be the future Regional Cable Hubs. The solidity of the plan will be taken into account when assessing the maturity of the proposal.

Proposals should demonstrate how they contribute to CPEI Area 8 (“Multipurpose vessel(s) and modular equipment stock”) from the CPEI list published in February 2026, and in particular to one or more of the CPEI criteria b, c, d and e of Point 26, and CPEI criteria a, b and c of Point 27 of Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/779.

Proposals must provide repair modules to increase repair capacity for all subsea cable systems, serving EU Member States in the main European sea basins following the current repair agreements when relevant.

Please consult the call document for more information on the scope, including digital security requirements.