How would India actually cope if the internet went dark? According to a new ranking of the ten countries least likely to be badly hit by a digital breakdown, India comes in ninth globally, with a vulnerability score of 23.4. Sweden sits just below it in tenth place, at 24.3. The numbers come from TRG Datacenters, a U.S.-based colocation and digital infrastructure provider backed by the venture firm Tallvine Partners.
Who tops the list?
The United States sits at the top of the list with a vulnerability score of zero. Indonesia follows at 10.3, and the United Kingdom takes third place at 16.2. One number stands out in the study though: India has the fewest submarine cables of any country on the list, just 22, compared to 115 for the U.S., which has by far the most.
Submarine cable count matters because it’s a rough proxy for how strong a country’s digital backbone is and how well connected it is to the rest of the world online. Based on usage, 70% of India’s population is online, a bit behind Indonesia’s 72.8%. Australia leads on this measure at 96.1%, with the U.K. and U.S. close behind at 95.5% and 94.7% respectively.
Internet exchange points
India has 40 internet exchange points. That’s well short of the U.S., which has 209, and also behind Indonesia’s 70 and the U.K.’s 30.
The more exchange points a country has, the more developed, decentralised and efficient its digital infrastructure tends to be, because domestic networks can swap data directly with each other instead of routing everything through international pathways. That translates into lower costs, faster speeds and a network that’s harder to knock over entirely. It’s why, if global internet access ever failed, the U.S. is positioned to recover fastest of anyone, backed by 115 undersea cables and 209 exchange points tying it into the rest of the world.
How other countries stack up
The U.K., with 30 exchange points and 65 submarine cables, is best placed to handle a Europe-wide network failure. Indonesia, meanwhile, leans on 72 submarine cables and 77 exchange points of its own, according to the data TRG Datacenters released. The research behind these rankings looked at close to 100 countries in total, assessing which ones would weather an internet blackout best.
Key Takeaway: India’s ranking among the countries least vulnerable to a large-scale blackout reflects the growing resilience of its digital ecosystem, supported by expanding internet penetration and domestic network infrastructure.
However, the relatively low number of submarine cables and internet exchange points compared with leading digital economies highlights the need for continued investment in critical internet infrastructure to improve redundancy, connectivity and disaster preparedness. Strengthening these foundational assets will be essential for ensuring uninterrupted digital services, supporting the digital economy, safeguarding critical sectors and enhancing India’s long-term cyber and communication resilience.
M.C.Q.
Question 1: Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) primarily help to:
- A. Increase mobile tower coverage
- B. Enable domestic internet networks to exchange traffic locally without routing through international networks
- C. Encrypt all internet communications
- D. Replace submarine communication cables
Question 2: Submarine communication cables are primarily used for:
- A. Satellite television broadcasting
- B. Long-distance transmission of international internet and telecommunication data
- C. Weather forecasting
- D. GPS navigation
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