Australia’s first submarine “hypercable,” SMAP, is now fully manufactured and ready for ship loading at the ASN factory in Calais, France, marking a major milestone for the country’s digital infrastructure.
The 5,000-kilometre, 400 Terabit-per-second (Tbps) cable, developed by SUBCO, will connect Sydney, Melbourne (via Torquay), Adelaide, and Perth.
Once completed, it will be the first intercity submarine cable linking these cities in over 20 years, significantly enhancing connectivity and supporting the rapid expansion of AI and cloud technologies in Australia.
SUBCO’s subsea engineering team has been on-site at the ASN factory overseeing assembly and rigorous quality testing, ensuring the system meets the highest industry standards.
The SMAP system includes 60 repeaters and four branching units, with tests covering shape and tilt equalisation, current and voltage checks, and optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) verification. Factory simulations have also replicated real-world conditions to confirm the cable’s durability.
“We’re thrilled to reach this stage of the SMAP project,” said Lee Harper, SUBCO’s COO. “After overseeing the system assembly testing at ASN, we’re confident that we’re building the world’s most resilient and reliable subsea cable system.”
SUBCO’s Founder Bevan Slattery added: “This milestone was an incredibly rewarding one for the team, as we now formally commence the marine program which will see SMAP fully installed and ready to start testing and commissioning in December this year.
“Lots of work ahead, but at the same time I can’t wait to invite our key customers and partners for the many cable landings planned for around Australia later this year.”
The hyperscale cable will land in Perth mid-year before progressing to other landing sites. SMAP remains on schedule to be fully installed by December 2025, with testing and commissioning to follow.
SMAP is designed to be Australia’s most secure and resilient transcontinental subsea cable system. It will feature full-armour protection to reduce the risk of outages, provide unprecedented 400Tbps capacity using space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology, and incorporate advanced sensing fibres to extend FiberSense capabilities up to 150 kilometres.
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