Pacific Cable Deal Tightens Digital Resilience and Strategy

A $120m Google-backed subsea cable project boosts Pacific connectivity as Australia and PNG align infrastructure with strategy

16 Dec 2025

A quiet stretch of ocean floor is drawing strategic attention. A new agreement to lay subsea cables linking Google with the governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) promises faster internet across the Pacific. It also shows how digital links have become tools of statecraft.

The plan involves three fibre-optic cables looping around PNG. They will connect the country’s northern and southern coasts and extend to the Bougainville Autonomous Region. By creating alternative routes, the network should boost capacity and cut the risk of outages. Australian and PNG officials put the project’s value at about $120m. Australia will foot the bill under the Pukpuk Defence Treaty.

For PNG the benefits are practical and overdue. The country relies on a small number of undersea connections. When cables fail, whether from ship anchors or technical faults, services go dark. Government systems stall, mobile networks wobble and businesses grind to a halt. Extra routes mean faster speeds, better reliability and fewer single points of failure.

Australia’s motives are broader. Reporting by RNZ notes that officials in Canberra talk of digital infrastructure as a pillar of Pacific “resilience”. As competition for influence in the region sharpens, and China’s interest grows, cables are framed as insurance against natural disasters, political shocks and unwanted dependence. In public statements they are as much about security as economics.

Google’s involvement reflects a selective shift among big technology firms. Rather than stringing cables everywhere, they are investing where demand for cloud services is rising and where redundancy matters most. Reuters reports that Google is also planning new links tied to Christmas Island, designed to strengthen capacity and provide backup routes. Analysts argue that such targeted bets make sense as data use across Asia-Pacific surges.

None of this is simple. Landing sites must be secured, onshore networks upgraded and maintenance guaranteed in difficult terrain. Cables alone do not ensure affordable or universal access. Yet the partnership offers a glimpse of a model taking shape.

As connectivity becomes strategic infrastructure, governments and technology firms are finding common cause. Beneath the Pacific, thin strands of glass are quietly reshaping how the region thinks about growth, security and influence.