THE GOVERNMENT of Victoria says it has secured the state’s first major subsea fibre optic cable, shortly to connect with the world’s global communications network.
Premier Jacinta Allan and government services minister Natalie Hutchins this week joined SUBCO chief executive Bevan Slattery at Docklands to officially welcome the arrival of the world’s largest data-cable ship Ile d’Yeu.
The vessel was previously in Fremantle and Port Adelaide for repairs.
SUBCO is an Australian-owned telecommunications company that has been hired to lay and build more than 5,000 kilometres of fibre infrastructure, both undersea and on land, as part of the new Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide-Perth (SMAP) system.
Ile d’Yeu is to take the fibre cable—which is about the diameter of a 50 cent piece—and lay it on the sea floor.
The SMAP system is to connect Australia’s east and west coasts via Victoria and link directly to international markets including the US, Singapore and India, providing a reported total data transfer capacity of 400 terabits per second.
The system is to support critical infrastructure including data centres.
It is to also strengthen vital services—including transport, emergency operations, and government communications.
As part of the project, the state government is supporting SUBCO to establish two new subsea cable landings in Torquay, Victoria.
The government is also supporting SUBCO to partner with VicTrack to build a new fibre network along the Melbourne–Geelong rail corridor.
This new fibre network will connect Geelong to Melbourne’s CBD, boosting V/Line’s operational capacity.
Premier Jacinta Allan said would be “plugged directly into the global economy, powering our data centres and keeping our systems up and running during natural disasters”.
Minister Hutchins said connectivity underpinned “every part of our economy and community life”.
“This partnership sets Victoria up for reliable connections for decades to come,” she said.
Minister for transport infrastructure Gabrielle Williams said the new fibre optic link would be owned by VicTrack and improve the reliability of the V/Line network.
SUBCO chief executive Bevan Slattery said the partnership was “a great example of how the public and private sectors can work together to deliver lasting benefits for Victoria and its people”.
“This investment will deliver significant dividends for the state – not only through this subsea system, but through future connections that will directly link the state to the rest of the world,” Mr Slattery said.