Google and three Australian digital infrastructure companies, Vocus, NextDC, and Subco, announced that they have reached a strategic partnership to establish a new 42500 kilometer submarine fiber optic cable network, known as the Australian Connection, which will greatly increase line capacity between Australia, Southeast Asia, and the United States.
The Australian connection will consist of two fiber optic cable systems: the Bosun submarine cable will connect Darwin and Christmas Island in Australia, and then connect to Singapore, while the new interconnecting cable will connect Melbourne, Perth, and Christmas Island.
Christmas Island is strategically located in the Indian Ocean, 1500 kilometers west of the Australian mainland and only 350 kilometers from Jakarta, Indonesia.
Brian Quigley, vice president of global network infrastructure of Google Cloud, said in a statement: “Once put into operation, Bosun and interconnecting optical cables will provide Australia with new digital channels and enhance the reliability and flexibility of the Internet in Australia and the entire Indian Pacific region.”
He added that the Australian connection will complement the Pacific connectivity fiber optic network, which was announced in October 2023 to connect Australia and the west coast of the United States through a multi qubit ring network between Fiji and French Polynesia.
Quigley said, “In Melbourne, the interconnecting fiber optic cables will be connected to the Hawaii fiber optic cable system as part of the Pacific Connectivity Initiative, creating a new interconnection point for services from the United States to Asia.”
The completion date and other milestones of the ‘Australian Interconnection’ have not been disclosed.
Google has begun a long-term commitment to building digital infrastructure in Australia. In 2021, the company launched a five-year “Digital Future Plan” in Australia, planning to invest AUD 1 billion (USD 651.2 million) in infrastructure, local partnerships, and research capabilities.
According to a 2022 report by Analysys Mason, Google’s previous deployment of submarine cables in Australia will cumulatively increase GDP by AUD 98.5 billion (USD 64 billion) between 2022 and 2026, and support the creation of approximately 68000 additional jobs by 2027.
Vocus’ ground network is crucial for connecting Australia
At the same time, Google stated that it is also collaborating with Vocus to provide ground fiber optic pairs connecting Darwin and the Sunshine Coast, linking Bosun with the Tabua submarine cable system connecting the United States, Australia, and Fiji.
“The new Australian connectivity submarine cable, combined with Vocus’ existing ground route between Darwin and Brisbane, will create a low latency, secure, and stable network architecture. It will also establish Australia’s largest and most diverse domestic capital to capital network, with unparalleled coverage and protection on land and underwater channels, “said Jarrod Nink, interim CEO of Vocus, in a statement.
He pointed out that Perth, Darwin and Brisbane are the main beneficiaries of this investment. The competitive and diversified undersea and land infrastructure built by Vocus network is now becoming the key hub of the global Internet.
Vocus will initially be able to provide a capacity of 20-30 tbit/s per pair of fibers on the announced system, depending on the length of the segment.
On the other hand, Google and Brisbane based Subco will work together to connect Australia by establishing coordinated cable landing infrastructure in Maroubra, New South Wales and Torquay, Victoria.
They will also build new infrastructure to connect these stations with the fiber optic cable landing stations of both sides. This infrastructure will support Subco’s transcontinental submarine cable system connecting Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Google’s upcoming Tabua and Honorulu trans Pacific submarine cable systems.
“This collaboration enables both parties to leverage shared infrastructure, enhance resilience, accelerate project delivery, and minimize impact on the environment and community, “said Belle Lajoie, Co CEO of Soda Infrastructure/SUBCO, in a statement.
NextDC, the data center operator, has issued a statement without providing details on its participation in the new Australian submarine cable project. However, local media reported that it will build a new landing point for the Tabua Trans Pacific Submarine Cable, which will connect the United States, Australia, and Fiji.
The optical cable is expected to land at NEXTDC’s SC1 data center in Maroochydore next year. The project is expected to provide faster and more flexible Internet infrastructure for enterprises that have not connected to the market before, thus enhancing the optical cable connection.
Australian Minister of Communications Michelle Rowland welcomes the new submarine cable project, and authorities hope to alleviate the impact of digital interference on Australia by building additional submarine cable lines from Asia to the West and from the South Pacific to the United States.
Roland mentioned in a statement, “These new fiber optic cable systems will not only expand and strengthen Australia’s own digital connectivity resilience through new and diverse routes, but also complement the active work of government, industry, and government partners to support safe, resilient, and reliable connections across the Pacific.”