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SUBCO cable includes spur to HMAS Stirling naval base

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Two Google cables crossing Indian Ocean to land near navy

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Google environmental application notes geostrategic shifts

in

Indo-Pacific

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Australia's AUKUS submarine

fleet base and its vicinity are being quietly connected to three

powerful new undersea internet cables planned by Alphabet's

Google and SUBCO, documents viewed by Reuters show.

The HMAS Stirling naval base on Australia's west coast will

house four U.S.-commanded Virginia submarines from 2027, placing

the U.S. Navy on the Indian Ocean's rim as Washington and

Canberra step up surveillance of Chinese submarine activity.

The superfast cables planned by Google and local company SUBCO,

which between them would span the Indian Ocean to Africa and

Asia, and connect Australia's east and west coasts, land at or

near HMAS Stirling, placing the base at the centre of a rapidly

expanding network as Australia's military seeks to bolster its

digital resilience.

SUBCO said a new high-capacity cable connecting Australia's

east and west coasts will include a branch to HMAS Stirling,

while public materials for the project only mention a Perth city

landing, 60 km (37.28 miles) north.

"These new routes being built by SUBCO and Google are

critical to delivering the capacity and resilience required not

just as a safe and secure hub for the entire region but also for

Australia's AI ambitions," founder Bevan Slattery said in a

statement to Reuters.

SUBCO in 2022 completed the first Australia-Oman cable, which

Reuters reported was part-funded by the Pentagon to include a

"secret" branch to the joint U.S.-UK air base at Diego Garcia.

STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES

Google's plans include a cable north to Australia's remote

Indian Ocean outpost of Christmas Island, and another across the

Indian Ocean to Africa, with both scheduled to land in Madora

Bay near the HMAS Stirling naval base.

A Google spokesperson said the landing facility will be

"located inland in an industrial zone," declining to give

further details.

Google's environmental application for a separate Pacific

Ocean cable on Australia's east coast, connecting to the United

States, cites "geostrategic shifts in the Indo-Pacific", and a

decision by the Quad diplomatic group of Australia, the U.S.,

Japan and India to invest in subsea cables, as the context for

the project.

Reuters last week reported the tech giant proposes to build a

data centre on Christmas Island, which military experts said

would give strategic advantages for operating drones and

autonomous systems. China's foreign ministry said it was not

aware of the matter.

In response to questions about the plans, the Australian

Communications and Media Authority said it was not aware of any

existing cables at Madora Bay.

BETTER RESILIENCE

Around 1,000 U.S. Navy personnel are expected to arrive to live

in Rockingham, where HMAS Stirling is located, and Mandurah from

next year to support the nuclear-powered submarines, Australian

officials have said.

"Militaries are just like any other big business, they need

really high-speed data connectivity and they need it between

military installations but also between allies and between

diplomatic networks," said Sam Bashfield, an expert in maritime

security in the Indian Ocean at La Trobe University.

Australia's Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, said

last week that seabed cables are Australia's lifeline and also

its greatest vulnerability, pointing to increasing incidents of

cable sabotage globally.

Building more cables across oceans where historically there

have been few provides better resilience, said Bashfield.

Australia's environmental regulator has suspended assessment

of Google's Western Australian cables, to consider "matters of

national environmental significance, including threatened and

migratory marine species", said a spokesperson for the

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Google said it will "comply with all applicable

environmental regulations".