Network cables that run along the bottom of the ocean help keep Australia connected to the rest of the world. The tiny cables allow Aussies to stream Netflix, Facetime relatives and even do a simple Google search
For Australians, about 99% of our digital connectivity to the rest of the world comes through underwater subsea cables. We currently own or operate about 400,000km of these cables across the ocean floor – so much in fact, that you could lap the world 10 times with that amount of cable.
Cable Landing Stations in Australia
In 2007, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) declared three submarine cable protection zones in Australian waters over submarine cables of national significance, including:
- the Submarine Cable Northern Sydney Protection Zone extending from Narrabeen beach to 40 nautical miles off shore covering northern branches of the Australia Japan Cable and Southern Cross cable, including the area between these two cables; and
- the Submarine Cable Southern Sydney Protection Zone extending from Tamarama and Clovelly beaches and extending 30 nautical miles off shore covering the southern branches of the Australia Japan Cable and Southern Cross cables, including the area between these two cables.
- the Submarine Cable Perth Protection Zone stretching from City Beach, near Perth, to 51 nautical miles offshore (that is, to a water depth of 2000 metres) for the protection of the SEA-ME-WE 3 (SWM3).
Most of submarine cables connecting Australia land within the submarine cable protection zones in Northern Sydney, Southern Sydney and Perth.
Additionally, the government authority of the Sunshine Coast Council launched Sunshine Coast International Broadband Submarine Cable network, and built a government-owned submarine cable landing station in Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Submarine Cables land in Sydney:
- Southern Cross Cable Network (2000)
- AJC (2001)
- APNG-2 (2006)
- Gondwana-1 (2008)
- Telstra Endeavour (2008)
- PPC-1 (2009),
- Tasman Global Access (TGA, 2017)
- Hawaiki Cable (2018)
- Indigo Central (2019)
- Coral Sea Cable System (CS², 2020)
- JGA South (2020)
- Southern Cross NEXT (2022)
- H2 (TBD)
Submarine Cables land in Perth:
- SMW3 (1999)
- Australia-Singapore Cable (ASC,2018)
- Indigo West (2019)
- Indigo Central (2019)
- Oman Australia Cable (OAC, 2021)
Submarine Cable lands in Sunshine Coast:
- JGA South (2020)
