International Construction Law Review
DOWN UNDER – GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF SUBMARINE CABLE PROJECTS IN AUSTRALIA AND THE OCEANIA REGION
Andrew Chew and Thomas Jones
Partners, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
1. INTRODUCTION
Submarine cables are a vital component of Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure, linking the country to the global telecommunications network and the world’s digital economy. As a nation, Australia is particularly dependent on subsea cables, which carry the vast bulk of voice and data traffic in and out of the country. That dependence will only increase with the exponential growth in data generated by the internet and the manifold applications that rely on it.
There are over 200 submarine cables worldwide carrying up to 99% of internet traffic. Seven of these are connected to Australia. The main companies operating the cables are:
- • Southern Cross Cable Ltd, which operates the Southern Cross Cable;
- • PIPE International, which operates PPC-1;
- • Telstra, which operates APNG-2 and Telstra Endeavour; and
- • SingTel and Reach, which operate the SEA-ME-WE 3 cable.
In addition to these, there are further projects in the feasibility stage, progressing to contract close or under construction:1
- • Cables on the Perth to Singapore route by the Nextgen Group, SubPartners and Trident. The Trident cable will provide an underwater link to Perth via Onslow, as well as to Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore. SubPartners recently announced that its APX-West Project has switched from a project finance model to a consortium model to get the project going;2
- • Proposals by SubPartners and Hawaiki Pty Ltd to construct cables connecting Australia and the United States; and
1 https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2016/04/01/cable-compendium-a-guide-to-the-weeks-submarine-and-terrestrial-developments/
2 Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/news/australia-to-get-long-awaited-perth-to-singapore-subsea-cable-417567; http:/www.subtelforum.com
Pt 4] Submarine Cable Projects in Australia and The Oceania Region
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