Darwin cable hub needs clearer landing rules and route diversity, analysis argues
With Google applying to land its Bosun cable at Fannie Bay and Darwin heading for five international systems, a People of Internet analysis says Australia's criminal penalties already rival the UK's proposals and the real gaps are approvals, open access and route diversity.
Google has filed to bring its Bosun cable ashore at Fannie Bay in Darwin, planning documents show, ABC News reported on 7 October 2026. The route would pass Christmas Island on its way to Singapore, with service expected from 2029.
Close by, Inligo Networks is constructing what it calls an open, multi-carrier landing station, billed as the first of its kind in Darwin. Its first planned tenant is the Asia Connect Cable (ACC-1), a 19,000 km system due in 2027 that would connect Darwin with Guam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste and California. The Northern Territory government is marketing Darwin as a regional digital hub, and the city is expected to end up with five international cables. According to SDxCentral, the only subsea cable now landing there is the domestic North-West system.
A People of Internet analysis published on 25 October 2026 argues that tougher criminal law is the wrong response. A UK government consultation dated 23 October 2026 proposes jail terms of up to 14 years and unlimited fines for deliberate damage to undersea cables, to replace the Submarine Telegraph Act 1885, under which fines are capped at £1,000. Australia already has protection zones under Schedule 3A of the Telecommunications Act 1997, which the ACMA can declare around cables of national significance, extending one nautical mile on each side. In the Perth zone, breaches can bring up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to 600 penalty points, or both, and the analysis concludes that this is already comparable to what the UK is proposing.
The analysis says the gaps lie elsewhere. In its view approvals are scattered: the Fannie Bay applications surface through local planning documents, while security, environmental and competition issues fall to different bodies. It also points out that open access is voluntary, and that Google's Australia Connect announcement named NEXTDC as a Darwin landing-station partner. It warns that if one privately held station became the only practical landing point, smaller carriers would find it hard to negotiate access.
Its recommendations include a single published guide to landing approvals, and open access as a default encouraged through planning and funding conditions where public money is involved. It says the ACCC already has tools for bottlenecks and should intervene only if access is refused. It also urges government to assess how many routes and landing sites the corridor needs before the fifth cable arrives. On the UK's proposed security duties and directions powers, it says Australia should move only after consulting operators and showing a gap exists.