Google is planning to land two new subsea cables at Maroubra Beach in Sydney. The tech giant submitted a proposal through its carrier company, Perch Infrastructure, to the NSW government for approval. The move aims to avoid congestion in existing cable protection zones.
Sydney’s northern and southern cable protection zones are already heavily used. There are 12 subsea cables currently landing in those areas, with six in the southern zone alone. Google said those zones are reaching capacity, forcing the need for new landing sites.
The new cables are part of Google’s Pacific Connect Initiative. Named Tabua and Honomoana, they will link Australia to the United States, Fiji, French Polynesia, and New Zealand. Google believes the Maroubra landing site will improve redundancy and meet growing demand for faster internet connectivity.
To support this, Google also asked the Australian Communications and Media Authority to extend the existing southern Sydney cable protection zone. This extension would legally accommodate the new cable landings near Maroubra.
The company’s proposal includes installing the cables from two offshore “punch out points” located about one kilometre from the beach.From there, they will either bury the cables beneath the seabed or lay them on top, depending on environmental conditions.They would extend to the edge of NSW’s coastal waters limit, which is 5.56 kilometres offshore.
Google said the Maroubra site offers several benefits. These include reduced pressure on existing landing areas, better system performance, and long-term resilience. The final decision now rests with NSW planning authorities and the ACMA.
