Submarine cable repair and maintenance analysis - Report – Read more
The submarine cable industry is undergoing a period of transition including the nature of investment, ownership, routing and user applications. In parallel, government economic and national security concerns amplify the criticality and resilience of international connectivity that submarine cables provide. Pacific island countries are highly dependent on submarine cable connectivity to facilitate international communications. Small island nations face unique challenges to secure a resilient cable network architecture, largely due to geographic isolation, limited telecommunications markets and cable investment challenges. The impact of connectivity disruption is closely tied to each island’s cable infrastructure, treats, redundancy and network resilience profile. Although submarine cables are by their nature vulnerable to disruption, strengthening network resilience can be accomplished by methods other than investing in more cables.
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The Role of Governments in Subsea Cable Repair: Views from the Indo-Pacific – Read more
Submarine cables carry almost all international data for the island nations of Oceania. As digital economies grow and dependence on connectivity deepens, this infrastructure is increasingly seen as a strategic asset for both socio-economic development and national security. The connectivity it provides is a public good, but the majority of the cables, and the system that repairs them are privately owned and commercially operated under maintenance agreements. Governments worldwide are asking what role they should play in ensuring cables can be reliably repaired when they fail, a question sharpened by a changing security environment and by cable fleet capacity pressures. This paper sets out what the commercial system in Oceania provides, where its limits sit, and a non-exhaustive list of options available to governments. The commercial system works under normal conditions. The great majority of cable faults are caused by fishing and anchoring and repair operators routinely service this need, usually under a maintenance agreement, at a balance of service level and cost for its customers. The interdependency between communication networks is an incentive for cooperation between competing system owners and by extension repair operators because each company's network depends on others for redundancy. There are several key factors that could disrupt current trends. The significant increase in cable kilometres planned for the region leaves an open question over whether fault numbers will rise in proportion. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of natural hazards. Extreme natural disasters can create multi-fault events, and severe storm events can reduce the windows in which ships can safely operate to repair them. Hyperscaler-owned cables are now a significant and growing presence in the region, but how those owners interact with existing maintenance structures in the future is still taking shape. Two failure modes are worth separating. The first is slow repair under normal conditions when extended outages exceed what a country can absorb. Long Pacific Ocean transits cannot be designed out, but other components, including regulatory friction and fault reduction, can be addressed. The second is non-response or unavailability of a repair capability in a crisis, where the question is whether…
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Strengthening subsea cable resilience with ASEAN Member States – Read more
The Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre (CCRC), in partnership with Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), brought together ASEAN Member States in Singapore on 23–24 June for a workshop to promote subsea telecommunications cable protection, regulation and resilience. This built on earlier CCRC and IMDA collaboration to support the updating of ASEAN’s 2019 Guidelines for Strengthening Resilience and Repair of Submarine Cables. Subsea telecommunications cables carry around 99 per cent of international data traffic and form the backbone of the global digital economy. As demand for digital connectivity continues to grow, ensuring the resilience and protection of this infrastructure is now a priority for governments globally. The workshop provided a valuable opportunity for ASEAN Member States to review national approaches and international best practice on the management of secure and resilient cables. Participants exchanged experiences and discussed practical approaches to strengthen policy, regulatory and operational frameworks for subsea telecommunications infrastructure. CCRC also launched its Best Practice Toolkit, which provides practical guidance to governments across the Indo-Pacific to strengthen policy and regulation for planning, protecting and managing subsea telecommunications infrastructure. The CCRC looks forward to continuing its engagement with ASEAN Member States and IMDA to support secure and resilient connectivity across our region.
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Peak industry-led body highlights need for collaboration to protect global connectivity – Read more
The 2026 International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) Plenary brought together governments, industry and experts to advance collaboration on protecting global connectivity. Australia was represented by the Director of the Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre (CCRC), Nadia Krivetz, attending as a Government Observer. Held in Athens, Greece in April 2026, the 40th ICPC Plenary was themed ‘collaboration to protect global connectivity’ and focused on the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of critical subsea cable infrastructure. Ms Krivetz participated in a panel discussion on regulatory and policy approaches to strengthening subsea cable protection and resilience. The discussion highlighted the role of effective policy and regulatory settings to support the security, reliability and ongoing operation of global cable networks. The Plenary provided an excellent opportunity to engage with industry leaders and other Government Observers, to exchange views and share insights on emerging trends and best practice in subsea cable policy and protection. More information about the 2026 ICPC Plenary is available here, on the ICPC website.
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