Insights

The Australia government announced on July 29 that Australia is launching a new Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre, to help ensure undersea cable networks in the Indo-Pacific are resilient and all countries can benefit from reliable connectivity and the growth of the digital economy.

The new Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre was announced by Australian foreign minister Penny Wong in Tokyo, where Quad foreign ministers held their latest meeting.

Australia will invest more than AU$18 million over the next four years in the Centre, which will draw on Australia's extensive undersea telecommunications cables expertise and experience to:

• Provide technical assistance and training across the Indo-Pacific.
• Commission research and analysis to support Indo-Pacific governments with policy development, regulations and decision-making regarding undersea cables.
• Share information and host dialogues to strengthen engagement between Indo-Pacific governments and industry.

The Centre is an important Australian contribution to the Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience, which is an important demonstration of the Quad's delivery in the region, responding to the Indo-Pacific's most pressing challenges, the Australian government press read.

There are now 18 in-service international subsea cables connecting Australia with the rest of the world, and various new subsea cables under planning or construction, including but not limited to

• Google's Umoja subsea cable system connecting Australia to South Africa,
• Google's South Pacific Connect initiative to build the Honomoana subsea cable connecting the United States, French Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand, and the Tabua subsea cable connecting the United States and Australia to Fiji.
• The Humboldt cable system connecting Chile, French Polynesia and Australia.
• The Hawaiki Nui submarine cable connecting New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singpaore and the United States.
• The Te Waipounamu submarine cable system linking Invercargill, New Zealand to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
• The Asia Connect Cable (ACC-1) subsea cable linking Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines) with Australia (via Darwin), Timor Leste, Guam, and through to Los Angeles, California.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has set up 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).

The Australian government, through the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP), has been actively taking roles in funding international subsea cable projects in terms of governmental grants and/or loans, such as:

• The US$95 million (AU$135 million) East Micronesia Cable System (EMCS) project connecting the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Kiribati and Nauru, 100% grant funded by the governments of Australia, Japan and the United States which forced Chinese HMN Tech out of the project.
• The Coral Sea Cable System (CS²) linking Australia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. The project was originally awarded to Huawei Marine (now HMN Tech) which signed a contract with Solomon Island Submarine Cable Company in 2017.  Then, the Australian government intervened and stepped in, offering to jointly fund the construction of the cable, which the Solomons government accepted in 2018.
• The Palau Cable 2 (the Echo Palau Branch) funded by the AIFFP.
• Autralian government granted AU$37.3m for Hawaiki Nui to Connect Pacific Islands.
• Australian and New Zealand governments co-funded a USD$32 million (NZ$ 42 million) investment for the Tonga Hawaiki Branch System.
• The Australian government approved a grant of AUD7.2million for the TLSSC project, in addition to a loan of AUD25.7 million.

The latest launch of the Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre is a whole of Australian Government initiative, embedded within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to help ensure undersea cable networks in the Indo-Pacific are resilient and all countries can benefit from reliable connectivity and the growth of the digital economy.

The Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said that it’s “an important demonstration of the Quad's delivery in the region, responding to the Indo-Pacific's most pressing challenges.”

One of the biggest challenges identified by the Quad is China’s moves to exert more influence in the region, particularly in regards to telecoms and emerging technologies.