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Sam Beltran

The cables that link Australia with the rest of the world lie mostly unseen, stretched across the seabed and threaded through some of the Indo-Pacific’s busiest and most contested waters.
This vulnerability could also become a strategic advantage, a new report says, urging Australia to position itself as an “Indo-Pacific preferred cable hub” as threats to submarine cables raise economic and national security risks across the region.
That view is echoed by regional analysts, who say Canberra would need to treat cable resilience not only as a domestic security issue but also as a shared regional project.
Geopolitical concerns and rising investment from “hyperscaler” technology firms such as Google and Meta Platforms are reshaping the Indo-Pacific cable network and could bring new investment into Australia’s undersea infrastructure, according to a paper published this month by the Australian National University’s National Security College.

The report, partly funded by the Department of Defence, said these developments were creating a “significant opportunity for Australia”. Its geography, political stability and “status as a trusted network partner” could attract cable investments that had previously transited “now increasingly geopolitically sensitive chokepoints”.
“Australia lacks a comprehensive strategy to properly protect and govern its submarine cable networks, to respond to a range of threats, or to take full advantage of economic opportunities,” the report said, adding that policies that enhanced security “are also the settings that attract investment”.
Around 99 per cent of Australia’s international data traffic flows through submarine cables – “the backbone of the nation’s digital connectivity”.
They carried critical data including “financial transactions worth trillions of dollars annually, government communications, cloud computing services, and the vast majority of internet traffic”, the report said.
“Major disruptions to submarine cables can have immediate and severe economic impacts, disrupting financial markets, halting international trade, and severing cloud-based services.”
Cutting edge
Recent incidents have sharpened concern over the vulnerability of submarine cables.
Cables connecting Taiwan with the Matsu Islands, which it administers near mainland China, were severed 27 times between 2018 and 2022, with several other incidents recorded around Taiwan in 2025. Taiwan has previously said there was no evidence Beijing had deliberately tampered with the cables.
In Europe, the Norwegian Ocean Observatory in the Norwegian Sea lost communication in April 2021 after a 12-tonne section of underwater communications was cut, while in November 2024, a Chinese-flagged vessel reportedly cut two submarine cable networks. Swedish prosecutors later said they had found no evidence of deliberate damage.
While attribution and intent remain contested in those cases, the report said the pattern suggested state actors were “actively probing and testing cable infrastructure in peacetime” as part of broader hybrid warfare strategies.

“The loss of international connectivity has the potential to send a country into a digital dark age,” said David Brewster, a senior research fellow at the college and one of the report’s authors.
“Over the last several years we have seen numerous incidents relating to cables in Europe and around Taiwan, many of which are likely to be intentional. Australia has mostly been lucky so far.”
International cables were likely to be among the first targets of an adversary in a hybrid war or wider conflict, he said.
Troy Lee-Brown, a research fellow at the University of Western Australia Defence and Security Institute, said while the threats predominantly came from accidental damage by anchors and fishing vessels, there was a “growing risk for intentional sabotage as evidenced elsewhere in the world”.
This was concerning as “Australia relies heavily on subsea cables for its data, and many of those cables come ashore in the same areas, such as in Perth”, he said.
According to the report, submarine cables are difficult to protect from physical attacks because of their offshore and underwater locations. Defending them from deliberate state-based attacks requires a mix of military and civil capabilities – which Australia has gaps in.
Asean interconnected
As cables tend to cross international waters, the report urged Australia to improve international cooperation and enhance the resilience of cable networks across the Indo-Pacific.
Southeast Asia remains central to Australia’s connectivity plans, with several of its cables linked to the region and many routes passing through strategic maritime chokepoints.
“Australia and Asean share the same maritime chokepoints. Cables linking Australia to Asean and onwards to India, Europe and the US, all pass through the Malacca and Singapore straits, as well as the Indonesian archipelago,” said Sarah Soh, an associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ regional security architecture programme.
There are also direct cable routes connecting Australia and some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including the Australia-Singapore Cable, the INDIGO cable system linking Singapore to Perth through Jakarta and the Matrix Cable System, which connects Singapore and Indonesia, with an extension to Perth.
“Australia should work with partners to enhance the resilience of cable networks in Southeast Asia,” the report said.
It suggested joint exercises to improve monitoring and response, as well as an Indo-Pacific conference bringing together partner states and regional cable operators to “clarify legal responsibilities, develop common standards, and develop shared responses to threats and incidents”.

Soh said Asean members “are key nodes in Australia’s undersea cable network”, adding that Canberra “could potentially tap into the region’s modest repair fleet” owned by Asean Cableship.
Australia could also offer capacity-building support through its Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre while investing in infrastructure that diversified routes and reduced reliance on the Singapore and Malacca straits corridor, she noted.
Mark Manantan, a research fellow and lead of the Southeast Asia-Australia Resilient Cable Connectivity Initiative at the La Trobe Centre for Global Security, saw the relationship between Australia and Asean over undersea cables as one of mutual dependence, not donor-recipient.
Australia’s digital resilience increasingly runs through Southeast Asia, according to Manantan. Canberra needed to build resilient regulatory and political relationships “with the countries its cables depend on”.
“Resilience is not just about laying more cables. It depends on landing rights, permits, seabed access and how quickly repairs can be authorised. That means decisions in Jakarta, Singapore, Manila or Dili can directly affect Australia’s connectivity,” he said.
Southeast Asian states provided geography, landing locations, seabed access and regulatory authority, while Australia brought financing capacity, technical expertise, regulatory experience and training, Manantan said.
“Each side therefore holds something the other needs.”


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Australia

Australia urged to lead Indo-Pacific cable shield as hybrid war risks rise

An underwater cable sits on the sea floor. Australia relies heavily on subsea cables for its data. Photo: Getty Images

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) greets Vietnamese President To Lam at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday. Photo: AAP/dpa

Vietnamese President To Lam attends a meeting at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday. Photo: AAP/dpa

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim exchange a signed agreement in Ankara on January 6. Photo: Xinhua

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Australia should treat cable resilience not only as a domestic security issue but also as a shared regional project, analysts say


Australia should treat cable resilience not only as a domestic security issue but also as a shared regional project, analysts say.


Australia urged to lead Indo-Pacific cable shield as hybrid war risks rise

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Australia should treat cable resilience not only as a domestic security issue but also as a shared regional project, analysts say

Australia should treat cable resilience not only as a domestic security issue but also as a shared regional project, analysts say