Bay of London, United Kingdom

How the Internet Reaches Bay of London

Bay of London is located in the United Kingdom, a country with an extensive submarine cable network spanning 42 cables across 105 landing points. As a submarine cable terminus, Bay of London receives its international and inter-regional internet connectivity directly from the sea — specifically through a single submarine cable that connects it to several other landing points within the United Kingdom itself.

Unlike major UK cable hubs that handle transcontinental traffic, Bay of London sits at the end of a domestic connectivity route. All submarine-routed internet traffic arriving here does so via the R100 North cable, which links Bay of London to a series of other UK landing points rather than to foreign shores. This makes Bay of London's submarine cable connection primarily a domestic inter-island and regional link rather than an international gateway.

The Cable Serving Bay of London

The R100 North cable is the sole submarine cable serving Bay of London. Spanning 224 km and reaching readiness for service in 2023 (with draft status), R100 North connects Bay of London to five other UK landing points: Baile Mòr, Belmont, Burravoe, Crockness, and Cusbay — all located within the United Kingdom. The cable forms a domestic ring or spur network linking communities across Scotland and the Scottish islands, providing connectivity to settlements that would otherwise be difficult to serve via terrestrial infrastructure alone.

Regional Context

The United Kingdom hosts 42 submarine cables landing across 105 points, with the average cable stretching 1,451 km and the country's submarine cable history dating back to 1990. Bay of London is among the smaller, more specialised terminuses in this network. By comparison, nearby peers such as Bude (7 cables) and Blackpool, Southport (3 cables each) handle significantly more submarine cable traffic, including connections to continental Europe and North America. Bay of London's single-cable connection reflects its role as a local access point rather than a major international exchange.

What This Means for Connectivity

With only one submarine cable in service, all submarine-routed internet traffic at Bay of London flows through R100 North. An outage on this cable would sever the location's submarine connectivity entirely, leaving no alternative submarine path for traffic. The destinations reachable via this cable are exclusively other UK communities — Baile Mòr, Belmont, Burravoe, Crockness, and Cusbay — meaning R100 North primarily serves inter-island and remote community connectivity rather than intercontinental data exchange.

Understanding Bay of London's position in the UK submarine cable map illustrates how a country's national cable infrastructure extends well beyond international links: domestic submarine cables play a distinct and practical role in connecting geographically dispersed coastal and island communities to the broader internet.