SUBCO sets 2026 milestones for SMAP hypercable rollout
SUBCO has set out commissioning milestones for its SMAP subsea cable across Australia and disclosed additional capacity investments on separate subsea and terrestrial routes.
The company said the Perth-Adelaide-Melbourne section of SMAP will reach its final splice in January 2026. SUBCO said it expects to hand over first services to customers in March 2026.
SUBCO said the Melbourne-Sydney segment is scheduled to reach final splice completion in March 2026. The company said the full SMAP system will be ready for service in May 2026.
SMAP is a transcontinental subsea cable system. SUBCO said the system will run 16 fibre pairs. The company said it will deliver more than 400Tb of capacity.
SUBCO said the build will link Australia's east and west coasts. The company described the project as a major increase in domestic inter-capital capacity.
SUBCO is based in Brisbane. It sells capacity to carriers and large cloud and infrastructure providers.
"We are incredibly proud of SMAP hypercable with the project being delivered on-time and on-budget. It has also been a massive hit with customers and a great example of an Australia company delivering amazing sovereign capability," said Bevan Slattery, Founder, SUBCO.
SUBCO also gave a breakdown of how much of the system it has already committed. "While there are 16 fibre pairs in total, 10 are already sold, four are reserved for capacity, and only two fibre pairs remain available for sale as spectrum or whole fibres. This clearly demonstrates the strong demand we are seeing from hyperscalers, carriers and neocloud providers," said Slattery.
Extra routes
Alongside the SMAP construction update, SUBCO said it has acquired more than 100Tbps of diverse subsea capacity on another upcoming system between Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The company said that route provides an alternative path alongside SMAP.
SUBCO also said it has secured 12T of terrestrial capacity between Sydney and Melbourne. The company said that network is due to go live in March 2026.
SUBCO characterised the terrestrial investment as additional diversity across high-traffic corridors. The company also linked that route to its broader plans for multiple independent paths between major digital hubs.
SUBCO named Equinix, CDC, NEXTDC and Airtrunk as data centre operators across the major cities referenced in its network plans. The company did not disclose the suppliers for the subsea capacity purchase or the terrestrial capacity arrangement.
Indigo Central
SUBCO also said it has acquired a further quarter fibre pair on Indigo Central. It said the purchase makes it the equal largest capacity owner on that system.
SUBCO said Indigo Central provides more than 13Tb of contiguous, express capacity between Perth and Sydney. The company positioned the additional holding as part of a broader set of investments across multiple routes.
The announcements come as operators and infrastructure providers build more domestic and regional capacity for cloud traffic and AI-related workloads. Australia has also seen increased focus on route diversity for resilience between major east-coast hubs and across the Nullarbor corridor.
"Since 2020, we have been strongly advocating that Australia has an outsized role to play as a secure connectivity hub for the Indo-Pacific region, and we have been investing accordingly to make that vision a reality," said Slattery.
"With the acceleration of AI and data-intensive workloads, secure, high-capacity connectivity is in even greater demand. SUBCO has been investing ahead of the curve to ensure Australia is well positioned to capitalise on this opportunity," said Slattery.
"2026 is going to be an amazing year for SUBCO and Australia. I want to thank our team, our customers and all those who have supported us in achieving our vision to become Australia's leading provider of hyperconnectivity in the AI era." said Slattery.