Belgium
Belgium lands two active submarine cables and has a third under development, giving the country a modest but growing direct foothold in the North Sea's dense web of international connectivity infrastructure.
Connectivity at a glance
- Cable systems
- 2active
- 1 planned
- Landing points
- 0
- Resilience score
- 20
Cable systems serving Belgium
| Cable | Status | Ready for service | Length | Design capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HERMES-1 | active | — | — | — |
| Tangerine | active | — | — | — |
| UK-Belgium 5 | planned | — | 122 km | 280Mbits/s |
Landing points
Landing point records for Belgium are being compiled.
Submarine cable connections
Belgium sits at the southern edge of the North Sea, a stretch of water that carries some of the world's heaviest concentrations of undersea cable traffic between the United Kingdom, the Low Countries, France, and onward to transatlantic and global routes. Despite that geographic proximity to major cable corridors, Belgium's directly documented cable landings remain limited: two active systems — HERMES-1 and Tangerine — and one planned addition, UK-Belgium 5.
Details on HERMES-1 and Tangerine, including their ready-for-service dates and precise lengths, are not yet fully documented in this register. What is clear is that both are active, meaning Belgium currently depends on this pair of systems for its direct submarine connectivity. A two-cable active portfolio is a thin margin. Should either system suffer a fault — whether from fishing activity, anchor drag, or subsea hazard — the country's direct international fibre capacity would be significantly reduced while repairs are arranged. Traffic in such a scenario would likely divert through terrestrial cross-border links into the Netherlands, Germany, or France, all of which maintain substantially larger cable footprints.
The UK-Belgium 5 addition
The planned UK-Belgium 5 offers a concrete near-term improvement to this picture. At 122 kilometres, it would be one of the shorter systems in the North Sea, reflecting the tight geography between the Belgian and British coasts. Short cables of this kind can be deployed and repaired relatively quickly compared with transoceanic routes, which is an operational advantage. More importantly, UK-Belgium 5 would bring the active cable count to three, distributing risk across a broader set of systems and adding direct capacity on the well-trafficked Belgium–UK corridor.
Geography and transit context
Belgium's coastline is short — the country has limited kilometres of North Sea frontage compared with neighbours such as the Netherlands — which constrains the number of viable landing points and contributes to the comparatively compact cable portfolio. Ghent, Bruges, and the port city of Ostend sit within or near this coastal strip, and cable landings in this region benefit from access to Belgium's dense terrestrial fibre networks that connect onward to major European internet exchange points, including the significant traffic hub in Amsterdam.
As this register continues to compile landing point data for Belgium, the full picture of where these cables come ashore — and the precise infrastructure supporting them — will be updated accordingly.