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# SUBCO puts Australia’s 5,000-kilometer SMAP data cable into service
- URL: https://pvweekly.com/subco-smap-subsea-cable-service/
- Published: 2026-10-27T19:29:59.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-27T19:29:59.000Z
- Description: 2026 archive · The Sydney–Melbourne–Adelaide–Perth system reached commercial readiness after testing and supplier handover of its sixteen fiber pairs.
- Author: PV Weekly Editorial
- Tags: Industry, Archive 2026, #ledger-format, #archive-backfill-20261027

**2026 archive** · June 25, 2026Reporting prepared October 22, 2026\. This retrospective describes events and expectations from the period covered.[Browse the archive](https://pvweekly.com/archive/)

A new subsea route between Australia’s east and west coasts reached commercial readiness June 25, when SUBCO declared its Sydney–Melbourne–Adelaide–Perth cable ready for service.

Known as SMAP, the approximately 5,000-kilometer system connects the four cities with sixteen fiber pairs. SUBCO reported capacity exceeding 400 terabits per second and named Cloudflare, Aussie Broadband and Megaport among its foundation customers. The capacity figure describes the system’s reported capability, not the amount of customer traffic already moving across it.

The final handoff came in stages. On June 5, SUBCO announced provisional acceptance from supplier Alcatel Submarine Networks. Its construction update said testing had covered the optical paths, repeaters and switching at branching units across the system. Those checks establish that the cable’s undersea elements work together along the intended routes.

At that point, terminal-equipment and backhaul integration were continuing in parallel. A cable on the seabed still needs equipment at its ends and connections into the networks that carry customers’ data. The June 25 ready-for-service declaration followed those final integration and commercial steps.

SMAP had also changed during development. In May 2024, SUBCO increased its design from twelve to sixteen fiber pairs, a one-third increase in the number of pairs. That expansion provided more optical paths within the cable; it should not be read as a measured one-third improvement in every customer’s speed.

The 2024 announcement had forecast provisional acceptance in December 2025\. The operator reported that milestone in June 2026 instead. The inspected announcements do not explain the intervening schedule change.

The completed route gives network operators another physical connection among four major Australian cities. Its value begins with that geography: traffic can follow an additional coastal path, with landing connections at Melbourne and Adelaide between Sydney and Perth.

## Sources

- [SUBCO announces SMAP hypercable ready for service](https://sub.co/news/subco-announces-smap-hypercable-ready-for-service?ref=pvweekly.com) — SUBCO · 2026-06-25.
- [SMAP reaches provisional acceptance](https://smap-blog.sub.co/?ref=pvweekly.com) — SUBCO SMAP construction blog · 2026-06-05.
- [SUBCO increases fibre capacity on SMAP cable system](https://sub.co/news/press-release-subco-increases-fibre-capacity-on-smap-cable-system?ref=pvweekly.com) — SUBCO · 2024-05-16.