WA cable will make state "critical data hub", claims PM

The $300 million Oman-Australia Cable (OAC) telecommunications cable directly linking Western Australia to Oman has been switched on by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Built by Australian consulting and investment company SUBCO, the cable enables direct ultra-high-speed data connectivity from the east and west coasts of Australia to the Middle-East and Europe for the first time. 

Albanese claimed that the almost 10,000 km international cable “will make Western Australia a critical data hub for the country,” Albanese said.

“Ensuring Australian businesses and industry can share data quickly and securely to global markets has never been more critical to our country’s economic future, “ he stated. “OAC delivers more capacity to support Australia’s growing digital economy and jobs”.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan saw the cable ensuring that “WA has access to world class digital infrastructure is critical in an increasingly data driven economy”.

“For the first time WA will now be directly connected to the Middle-East, Indian and European markets through a 9,800 km optical fibre system providing WA with its own international data super-highway,” McGowan said.

The OAC system was designed to avoid existing congested global data routes, improving Australia’s digital resiliency and security, said SUBCO founder Bevan Slattery.

“This Oman Australia Cable opens up a new secure and low latency express route between Australia and EMEA and is the only cable that avoids other legacy systems built in heavily congested waters including the Malacca and Sunda Straits as well as South China Sea,” Slattery said.

The cable means, “all of Australia will now have access to improved network performance and reliability through this completely new route to the Middle-East and Europe from Australia,” Slattery said.

In April this year, the cable was completed in Barka, Oman, with the support of landing partner Oman telco Omantel, who worked closely with SUBCO.

Omantel CEO Mr Talal Al Mamari said, “Omantel has successfully utilised the unique geographical location of Oman to create a global telecommunications hub centred between the Middle East, Africa and Europe”.

Equinix president and chief executive officer Charles Meyer stated that the company was delighted to be the provider of cable station facilities for SUBCO.

"This partnership illustrates how Equinix enables the critical infrastructure that powers the internet and we look forward to a long relationship together as Perth is poised to become a major hub," Meyer stated.

“The OAC Cable Landing Stations in Perth and Oman will provide organisations with access to a dense ecosystem of networks and the lowest latency and most direct path between Australia and onward into Europe."

SubCom supplied and installed the OAC system on behalf of SUBCO and its partner.

The company’s chief executive officer David Coughlan said, “When our company was entrusted as the supply partner for the Oman Australia cable in March 2020, we were certainly excited, but also a bit cautious given how much we didn’t yet know about the pandemic and the obstacles it would present,” he said.

“I am proud of our entire team for its creativity and perseverance during extraordinarily challenging circumstances”.

Previous projects undertaken by SUBCO include the Sydney to Guam Cable, Sydney to Los Angeles, Singapore to Perth Cable and Australia’s first transcontinental fibre optic submarine cable between Perth and Sydney.