Determining a cable's route requires navigating a maze of economics, geopolitics and topography.

WSJ: A Dive Into the Digital Deep

One plan under consideration calls for tractor traverses from the base on the coast at McMurdo to the pole via the newly established Leverett Glacier route to transport the cable.

BBC: Internet to reach South Pole

As for the competition, similar rumors about Microsoft turned into an effort that mostly works with partners like Comcast, U-verse, and FiOS, while Google is also pursuing a route of adding to, but not necessarily replacing, cable TV.

ENGADGET: Sony may be preparing an internet-based cable TV alternative

The report by Heriot-Watt's School of Life Sciences said what impact the cable could have on seabed habitats could not be better understood until a precise route for it was known.

BBC: Western Isles sub-sea cable 'could affect' mud life

Mr Verster, Route Managing Director for Network Rail, said there were a number of factors for the reduction in cable theft, including engineers developing cables that were harder to steal and easier to identify.

BBC: Railway cable theft heavily reduced in Yorkshire