Australia's SMAP domestic submarine cable lands in Perth

　　Subco is on track with the deployment of its SMAP submarine cable system, having landed the system's first subsea cable in Perth.

　　The 5,000km submarine cable system, which was announced in 2023, will connect Sydney, Melbourne (via Torquay), Adelaide and Perth.

　　Originally designed with 12 fiber pairs, the system was capable of delivering over 300 terabits per second (Tbit/s) using spatial division multiplexing (SDM) technology. In May 2024, the design was upgraded to 16 fiber pairs, increasing the total system capacity by 33%, to 400 Tbit/s.

　　"With the landing of the Golden Buoy, the race to final splice is now starting with main lay vessel arriving and commence laying in July," Subco CEO Bevan Slattery wrote in a post on LinkedIn on Wednesday. "At over 400Tbps, SMAP will soon become a cornerstone of Australia's next generation networks, necessary to provide the capacity to support this nation's AI investments including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's $20B deal with AWS."

　　Slattery was referring to AWS' plans, announced over the weekend, to invest $20 billion Australian dollars (US$13 billion) from 2025 to 2029 to expand, operate and maintain its data center infrastructure in Australia.

　　"SMAP will also be a critical, diverse and secure interconnector between the Indo and Pacific regions, further positioning Australia as an attractive 'safe harbour' for our region," he added.

　　Progressing on schedule

　　The SMAP cable system is projected to be completely installed by December 2025 and to be operational in the first quarter of 2026.

　　The Île d’Yeu cable ship from Alcatel Submarine Networks laid the cable that landed in Perth. Alcatel Submarine Networks has been assigned to supply the cable for the project.

　　Meanwhile, new landing stations are under development in Adelaide and Torquay, which is located southwest of Melbourne. The cable is also now present at Equinix's SY5 facility in Sydney.

　　In January, Subco announced that it would add sensor systems from FiberSense to the SMAP submarine cable. These systems will detect physical activity around the cable by analyzing changes in light patterns in real time.

　　Subco has also deployed an underwater camera to monitor cable alignment, with the goal of minimizing interactions with localized seagrass.

　　The SMAP cable system is a significant infrastructure investment that will improve connectivity between Australia's major coastal cities. The system is being built with an investment of AU$$400 million (US$260.45 million).

　　This project will create a new intercity submarine cable connection between these four Australian cities, marking the first such link in over 20 years.