Oceanic Environmental Cables

Aloha PTC’26: an inspiring week in Honolulu!

Mathilde Ribes — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:40:11 +0000

Aloha PTC’26: an inspiring week in Honolulu!

The start of the year marks one of the most important gatherings in the telecommunications industry: the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) conference. In January, OEC headed to Hawaii to join global leaders, innovators, and partners to discuss the future of subsea cables and share our latest developments in subsea cable recovery and recycling.

Represented by our chairman Jayne Stowell, CEO Horst Brockmüller, board member Ernst W. Pieper, and CCO Bobby Melville, the OEC team spent a productive week in Honolulu reconnecting with familiar faces and meeting new people in the industry.

Insights from Submarine Cable Workshop

A high point of the week was the Submarine Cable Workshop, featuring a powerhouse panel including David Coughlan (SubCom), Andrés Irlando (Vocus), Brian Quigley (Google), Bevan Slattery (SUBCO) and Roary Stasko (Telstra International). The discussion centered on the new digital divide and the evolving pain points of our industry.

The workshop highlighted several key trends regarding the global lifecycle of subsea infrastructure:

Cable retirement looming: The industry is approaching a pivot point as many cable systems reach the end of their operational life. Most submarine cables are designed with a minimum operational life of 25 years.
A massive scale of decommissioning: Projections show that 850,000 km of retired cable are expected by 2040, with 50% likely to be retired by 2030.
Subsea network expansion: Roughly 1.6 million new cable kilometres are expected to be added to the seabed by 2040, a 48% increase in total global cable kilometres.

Networking and connection: The PTC Members' Soirée

Beyond the conference rooms, Jayne Stowell, Horst Brockmüller, Ernst W. Pieper, and Bobby Melville were honoured to attend the PTC Members’ Soirée at the Na Lea Terrace. Under the Hawaiian palm trees, our team joined industry peers for an evening of connection and collaboration.

These meaningful interactions in a more personal atmosphere reinforced the importance of partnership as we navigate the evolving subsea cable landscape. It was a pleasure to exchange insights on the future of global connectivity while enjoying the beautiful island setting.

Ending on a high note (and a friendly pitch)

To mark the closing of PTC’26, OEC stayed active. Our own Bobby Melville took to the field for the annual PTC Football Match. While the “Rest of the World” team faced a narrow 5-3 loss, the match was a perfect showcase of the spirit of the PTC community, emphasizing the importance of team dynamics and the strong personal bonds that brace our industry.

Looking forward

OEC returns from Honolulu with fresh perspectives and strengthened connections. The insights gained at PTC’26 reinforce our commitment to building a more sustainable and circular economy, ensuring that the expansion of our digital world doesn’t come at the expense of our environmental responsibility.

We would like to extend our thanks to the Pacific Telecommunications Council for hosting such a significant event, and we are already looking forward to returning for PTC’27!

Aloha

Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming projects, feel free to reach out if you’d like to continue the conversation!

What an inspiring SubOptic WAVE Uruguay 2025! 🌊

Quynh Nguyen — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 14:47:55 +0000

OEC was proud to be part of this event as a sponsor and speaker, sharing insights on submarine telecommunication cable recovery and recycling — and how sustainable practices can shape the future of our industry.

It was amazing to see so many young professionals and students engaging with such curiosity, great questions, and genuine passion for sustainability and innovation in subsea technology.

A huge thank you to the organizers SubOptic Foundation, Universidad Católica del Uruguay ‘Dámaso Antonio Larranaga’, our fellow participants, and especially the next generation of subsea talent — your energy and ideas make the future look brighter than ever!

WAVE Symposium Uruguay

Quynh Nguyen — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 14:51:00 +0000

Grateful for the warm welcome by the Vice President of Uruguay, Madam Carolina Cosse, as we begin our WAVE Symposium journey.

Looking forward developing further the subsea circular economy here!

OEC is proud to sponsor SubOptic WAVE Uruguay 2025!

Quynh Nguyen — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 13:45:28 +0000

OEC is proud to sponsor SubOptic WAVE Uruguay 2025!

We’re excited to support this incredible initiative by the SubOptic Foundation, dedicated to inspiring and connecting the next generation of talent in the subsea communications industry.

As part of the event, Quynh D Nguyen from OEC will join the speaker lineup to share insights on “What Happens When Submarine Cables Retire?” – exploring how recovery and recycling operations give these vital systems a second life beneath the waves.

At OEC, we believe that collaboration and knowledge sharing are key to building a more sustainable and resilient subsea network ecosystem. Supporting WAVE means investing in the future innovators, engineers, and explorers who will shape what comes next under the ocean.

Montevideo, Uruguay
28-29 October, 2025
Learn more about SubOptic WAVE: https://lnkd.in/dwWbjbbz

OEC News Flash

Deepa Chandrashekar — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 06:46:00 +0000

We’re excited to announce that Elli F, OEC’s first cable recovery vessel, will be ready in Q3 this year for its first project!

Designed specifically for subsea telecom cable recovery, transport and recycling, this vessel represents a key step in our commitment to sustainable infrastructure decommissioning management.

Stay tuned for more updates!

OEC at SubOptic 2025

Deepa Chandrashekar — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 14:20:44 +0000

We are extremely proud to share that our very own Quynh D Nguyen, Lead Environmental Officer at OEC, won the Best Newcomer Presentation Award at SubOptic 2025 for her presentation on subsea cable end-of-life (EoL) scenarios: In-situ Disposal, Reuse, Recycling

Her session highlighted an uncomfortable truth: 95% of decommissioned cables are still abandoned on the seabed. As environmental scrutiny and seabed congestion intensify, this status quo is consistently being challenged.
Quynh’s talk tackled key EoL strategies and delivered actionable recommendations that resonate across the industry. One important key takeaway is that: Planning for decommissioning must start early. Circular economy thinking must be embedded in system design, ownership transparency, and lifecycle strategy.

We congratulate Quynh not just for the award, but for advancing an industry conversation that affects us all. At OEC, we remain committed to sustainability, innovation, and driving change that goes beyond compliance—toward true environmental stewardship.

To view Quynh’s presentation and paper, please log into SubOptic platform directly or contact q.nguyen@oecops.com.

Total Telecom Submarine Networks EMEA Event

Quynh Nguyen — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 07:44:20 +0000

Last weeks Total Telecom Submarine Networks EMEA event in London was fantastic in so many aspects.
It was great to see a record attendance for the conference, which is becoming a common occurrence in the Subsea industry as innovation continues with AI, increased fibre pairs and record numbers in new marine infrastructure- meaning all industry participants are eager to acquire updates and knowledge from European businesses and experts in the space who attend.

The above coupled with Subnet EMEA being Oceanic Environmental Cables GmbH ‘local’ subsea conference, means that we are proud to continue sponsoring and supporting such a well choreographed event that packs a huge amount of content into two days and attracts best in class expertise from all corners of the globe.
In conjunction with the event, It is always such a pleasure to see so many partners, suppliers, colleagues and friends at the annual OEC Subsea Soiree which was well attended and enjoyed this year- thanks to all the support from @bubbaoasis staff and the OEC team Bobby Melville & Quynh D Nguyen for putting on another successful cocktail party!

The Subnet EMEA Sustainability Panel: Special mention must also go to Horst Brockmueller for providing new insights into the recycling operations of the company and how we are striving to create a circular economy with zero waste targets and to European standards and it was also great to see Quynh D Nguyen getting deserved recognition on the environmental awareness work she conducts.

For anyone we didn’t get a chance to meet up with last week please reach out to one of the team (b.melville@oecops.com) and we look forward to continuing to share exciting developments and operations with the industry throughout 2025.

#SubNetsEMEA 2025 #subseacables #subsearecovery #cablerecycling #çirculareconomy

OEC Lands on Sylt: Cable Recovery Operation Underway

Quynh Nguyen — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 06:15:52 +0000

We’re excited to share that OEC has kicked off our land cable recovery operation on the beautiful island of Sylt, one of Germany’s most prestigious destinations.

Our team is hard at work recovering the Out-of-Service terrestrial portion of AC-1 and CANTAT-3 cable systems on the island.
Finding the beach manhole—hidden and unmarked—was quite the challenge, but nothing our experienced crew couldn’t handle!

This project highlights ours and our partners commitment to sustainable recovery and recycling practices of subsea cable systems, both on land and at sea.
Stay tuned for more updates and behind-the-scenes insights from our operations!

#oecoperations #ops #circulareconomy

Colt Technology Services, Deutsche Telekom, Shefa.

Fun Fact about the island of Sylt:
Half of the island is registered as a protected area and visited by over 330 bird species per year!

OEC Acquires 22,000km of Subsea Cables in Partnership with Sparkle

Horst Brockmueller — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 06:17:01 +0000

NEWS FLASH
We are proud to announce a new initiative & partnership with one of the top global telecommunication operators, Sparkle and the acquisition of 17 Out-of-Service subsea cables that span over 22,000 km.
Using our proprietary recovery and recycling methods OEC estimate a carbon saving of 35,000 tons of CO2e through secondary material manufacturing re-use.

”We are thrilled to partner with Sparkle on this important initiative. By retrieving and recycling these redundant cables, we are not only reducing the congestion and waste on the Mediterranean seabed but also reducing the need for virgin materials in manufacturing. This process significantly lowers carbon emissions and embodies the principles of a circular economy’’,
– Horst Brockmueller, CEO of OEC.

Full details here: https://shorturl.at/s2uSQ

Greener Future: OEC at Submarine Networks EMEA

Quynh Nguyen — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 05:27:54 +0000

OEC team was thrilled to be back at Submarine Networks EMEA 2024 in London, this time focusing on the topic of “Collaborating towards a Greener Future.” Our CEO Horst Brockmueller, joined a thought-provoking panel discussion exploring the crucial roles of circular economy and sustainability in the subsea industry, while our CCO Bobby Melville delivered a speech on behalf of the Sustainable Subsea Network’s Cable Recovery & Recycling working group.

The panel discussed a range of topics, including: the concept of circular economy, the link between reducing carbon emissions and protecting biodiversity, the profitability of sustainability and CSR, and the importance as well as challenges in carbon footprint calculation.

The discussion also emphasized the importance of collaboration for a greener future, especially the need for greater data sharing across the industry to ensure accurate carbon footprint calculations and informed decision-making.

Many thanks to the event organizer Total Telecom, panel moderator John Wrottesley, fellow panelist Nicole Starosielski & the Sustainable Subsea Networks working groups, Dr. Michael Clare and Metere Caubet.

Thank you Submarine Networks EMEA

Until next year!

#SubmarineNetworksEMEA2024 #SubseaIndustry #CarbonFootprint