Google to build subsea cable linking Australia's Darwin to Christmas Island

sydney — 

Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island volition beryllium connected by subsea cablegram to the bluish garrison metropolis of Darwin, a task backed by Alphabet's Google that Australia says volition boost its integer resilience.

Christmas Island is 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) westbound of the Australian mainland, with a tiny colonisation of 1,250, but strategically located successful the Indian Ocean, 350 kilometers (215 miles) from Jakarta.

The cablegram announcement comes arsenic the Australian and U.S. militaries upgrade airfields successful Australia's north, wherever a rotating unit of U.S. Marines volition beryllium joined by Japanese troops adjacent year.

Google's vice president of planetary web infrastructure, Brian Quigley, said successful a connection the Bosun cablegram volition nexus Darwin to Christmas Island, portion different subsea cablegram volition link Melbourne connected Australia's eastbound seashore to the westbound seashore metropolis of Perth, past connected to Christmas Island and Singapore.

Australia is seeking to trim its vulnerability to integer disruption by gathering much subsea cablegram pathways to Asia to its west, and done the South Pacific to the United States.

"These caller cablegram systems volition not lone grow and fortify the resilience of Australia's ain integer connectivity done caller and diversified routes but volition besides complement the Government's progressive enactment with manufacture and authorities partners to enactment secure, resilient and reliable connectivity crossed the Pacific," Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said successful a statement.

The different partners successful the cablegram task see Australian information halfway institution NextDC, Macquarie-backed telecommunications radical Vocus, and SUBCO.
SUBCO antecedently built an Indian Ocean cablegram from Perth to Oman, with spurs to the U.S. subject basal of Diego Garcia, and Cocos Islands, wherever Australia is upgrading a runway for defence surveillance aircraft.

Although 900 kilometers (560 miles) apart, Christmas Island is seen arsenic an Indian Ocean neighbour of Cocos Islands, which the Australian Defense Force has said is cardinal to its maritime surveillance operations successful a portion wherever China is expanding submarine activity.

The caller cables volition besides nexus to a Pacific Islands web being built by Google and jointly funded by the United States, connecting the U.S. and Australia done hubs successful Fiji and French Polynesia.

Vocus said successful a connection the 2 networks volition signifier the world's largest submarine cablegram strategy spanning 42,500 kilometers (26,408 miles) of fibre optic cablegram moving betwixt the U.S. and Asia via Australia.