- United States, Indonesia and UK Lead Countries Best Prepared for Major Internet Blackouts
The United States has been ranked the country best prepared to withstand a major internet infrastructure breakdown, according to new research that assesses the resilience of nearly 100 national digital networks. The July 2026 study by data infrastructure provider TRG Datacenters placed the US ahead of Indonesia and the United Kingdom, citing its extensive network of submarine cables, internet exchange points, strong electricity access and high cybersecurity readiness. The findings underline how physical infrastructure remains central to digital resilience even as attention increasingly shifts towards cyber threats and artificial intelligence.
The US received the strongest overall result in the study, supported by 115 submarine cables and 209 internet exchange points, both the highest counts among countries assessed. Internet penetration was put at 94.70%, while electricity access stood at 100.00% and its Global Cybersecurity Index score at 99.90 out of 100. TRG Datacenters assigned the US a vulnerability score of zero, making it the benchmark against which the other countries were assessed.
Indonesia ranked second with a vulnerability score of 10.30, supported by 72 submarine cables and 77 internet exchange points. The study reported internet usage at 72.80%, electricity access at 99.40% and a cybersecurity score of 100.00, giving the country significant redundancy despite lower internet penetration than many advanced economies. Its number of exchange points was also almost three times Japan’s 27, highlighting the scale of Indonesia’s internal routing infrastructure.
The United Kingdom ranked third globally and first among European countries, with a vulnerability score of 16.20. It was reported to have 65 submarine cables, 30 internet exchange points, 95.50% internet usage, universal electricity access and a perfect 100.00 cybersecurity score. The combination gives the UK multiple international and domestic routing options that could help data traffic continue moving when individual connections fail.
Japan placed fourth with a score of 19.90, backed by 50 submarine cables and 27 internet exchange points, while Brazil ranked fifth with 26 cables and 53 exchange points. Australia, France, Italy, India and Sweden completed the top 10, with vulnerability scores ranging from 21.50 to 24.30.
The ranking suggests that resilience is not determined by any single factor, but rather by the interaction between international connectivity, domestic routing infrastructure, cybersecurity capacity and reliable power.
TRG Datacenters said its methodology considered the number of submarine internet cables and internet exchange points available in each country, alongside electricity access and cybersecurity readiness. Undersea cables provide physical connections for international traffic, while exchange points allow networks to exchange data domestically and reroute traffic more efficiently. The study assumes that countries with more redundant infrastructure are better positioned to absorb individual failures without suffering widespread or prolonged disruption.
That distinction is important because digital resilience is often discussed mainly in terms of cyberattacks, while physical infrastructure remains an equally significant source of vulnerability. International internet traffic continues to depend heavily on submarine fibre-optic cables, leaving countries exposed to accidental cuts, geopolitical disruption and damage at major landing points. A network with several alternative routes can generally absorb such disruptions better than one dependent on only a handful of international connections.
Eric Winegar, Managing Partner at TRG Datacenters, said most users pay little attention to the physical infrastructure supporting the internet until failures occur. He pointed to cable disruptions near Saudi Arabia in September 2025, which the research said slowed connectivity across India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates for several days. Winegar noted that many cable cuts are not the result of deliberate attacks but are caused by incidents such as ships dropping anchors in the wrong locations.
The ranking also highlights the role of internet exchange points, which can reduce dependence on international routing by allowing networks within the same country to exchange traffic locally. Countries with a large number of these hubs may have greater flexibility to reroute data when one pathway fails, potentially limiting the scale of outages. Brazil’s 53 exchange points, for example, exceeded the UK’s 30 despite Brazil having fewer submarine cables overall.
Electricity access is another important part of the resilience equation because redundant cables and data-routing infrastructure are of limited use if power supply is unreliable. Most of the countries in the top 10 recorded electricity access at or close to 100.00%, reinforcing the connection between broader infrastructure development and digital reliability. Cybersecurity readiness provides another layer of protection by addressing threats that can disrupt networks even when their physical infrastructure remains intact.
The findings have wider implications for economies that are accelerating digitalisation across finance, public services, trade and telecommunications. As governments and businesses become more dependent on cloud computing, electronic payments, digital identity systems and real-time data exchange, internet disruption can quickly become an economic rather than merely technological problem. The cost of weak resilience can therefore include interrupted transactions, disrupted logistics, inaccessible public services and lost business activity.
For emerging markets, the study provides a useful reminder that expanding internet access is only one dimension of digital transformation. Countries also need redundancy in international connections, sufficient domestic exchange infrastructure, reliable electricity and strong cybersecurity institutions if digital services are to remain dependable under stress. A network that connects more people but relies on only a small number of critical pathways may still carry significant systemic risk.
The research also suggests that national digital resilience should increasingly be viewed in the same way governments assess energy security or transport infrastructure. Redundancy, alternative routes and the ability to recover quickly from disruption are becoming strategic economic assets as commerce, banking and public administration move online. The countries at the top of TRG Datacenters’ ranking are therefore not simply the most connected; they are those judged to have the strongest layers of backup capacity when connections fail.
For now, the United States’ combination of 115 submarine cables, 209 exchange points, universal electricity access and near-perfect cybersecurity readiness gives it the strongest position in the study.
But the wider lesson is that digital resilience depends on infrastructure that most users rarely see until it stops working. As economies become more digitally dependent, the ability to keep data moving during a major disruption may become as important as internet speed itself.
