- Sparkle joins €4 million ECOTEL project to detect earthquakes via submarine fibre cables.
- The system uses tiny light reflections to track seismic and temperature data in real time.
What happened: Sparkle to install ECOTEL sensors on Mediterranean fibre routes
Global telecom provider Sparkle has joined a €4 million European Union initiative to convert existing subsea fibre optic cables into advanced environmental sensors. The project, called ECOTEL (Earthquake and ecological monitoring through submarine TEL communications cables), is funded under the EU’s Horizon Europe program and involves multiple partners, including Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia and the University of Malta.
ECOTEL aims to detect undersea earthquakes, temperature shifts, and ocean currents by harnessing the backscattered light—known as Rayleigh scattering—within fibre optic strands. The goal is to install low-cost systems at cable landing stations that monitor and interpret environmental data over thousands of kilometres of subsea infrastructure. Sparkle is contributing by deploying the system on its fibre pairs, notably across the Mediterranean.
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Why it is important
Turning subsea telecom cables into environmental sensors offers a cheaper, wide-reaching alternative to traditional earthquake detectors. It allows for real-time quake alerts and better tracking of ocean changes linked to climate. Unlike special underwater sensors, ECOTEL uses cables already in place, cutting the need for new equipment. This move builds on progress in distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), which uses fibre optic lines to detect tiny vibrations and temperature shifts.
Projects like Google’s Curie cable and research by Alcatel Submarine Networks have also highlighted the potential of this approach. With around 1.4 million km of subsea cables in place globally, the impact of large-scale rollout could be transformative for early-warning systems and climate monitoring.
Sparkle’s involvement indicates serious industry momentum behind the technology. “This cooperation represents a major step towards integrating telecom infrastructure with scientific research,” said a Sparkle spokesperson. With climate volatility and seismic risk both rising, the case for dual-use digital infrastructure has never been stronger.
