Two Undersea Cables Failed Off Perth Minutes Apart While a Ship Loitered Overhead for Two Weeks
Two Undersea Cables Failed Off Perth Minutes Apart While a Ship Loitered Overhead for Two Weeks
Two subsea communications cables off the coast of Perth suffered faults in close succession over a recent weekend, both located inside Australia's Submarine Cable Protection Zone. The cables, Indigo West and Indigo Central, are owned and operated by SUBCO and form part of a system connecting Singapore, Perth, and Sydney. The near-simultaneous nature of the faults, combined with reports of a vessel loitering in the area for roughly two weeks beforehand, has prompted questions that remain unresolved. What caused the faults is not yet known, and explanations range from the mundane, such as an anchor drag, to more alarming possibilities involving deliberate interference. At this stage, no cause has been confirmed.
The Loitering Ship That Sparked the Alarm
The incident became public when SUBCO CEO Bevan Slattery posted about it on LinkedIn, describing the timing as a "concerning development." According to his account, a vessel had been loitering in the vicinity of the cable protection zone for approximately two weeks before the faults occurred. Slattery was notably careful in his own framing, explicitly acknowledging that the situation "could be a coincidence or an external aggression event." It is worth emphasizing that this account originates from a single executive's public statement rather than a verified investigative finding, and it has not been independently confirmed through direct interview by the outlets reporting on it.
What a Shunt Fault Actually Is (and Isn't)
Much of the coverage centers on a technical term: the shunt fault. In plain language, a shunt fault occurs when a cable's insulation is compromised, allowing unintended electrical contact or a short circuit. Shunt faults, along with anchor-drag damage, are well documented as common and typically accidental occurrences in the global subsea cable industry, according to the International Cable Protection Committee. Neither Indigo West nor Indigo Central had FibreSense real-time monitoring installed, which limits the diagnostic data available in the immediate aftermath. Determining the actual cause will require physical recovery and inspection of the affected cable sections, a process that has not yet concluded.
The Investigation So Far
SUBCO has filed a formal report with the Australian Federal Police describing a potential crime in connection with the faults. The AFP has confirmed it received the report and stated that it is being assessed, though it has offered no further characterization of the cause. Separately, the disruption has had a tangible real-world impact: regional internet provider AusInternet reported an outage beginning the preceding Saturday evening, with repairs expected by August 26, 2026. It's important to distinguish what has been established from what remains speculative. Confirmed: the faults occurred in close succession, SUBCO filed a report, and the AFP is assessing it. Unconfirmed: any specific cause, including whether deliberate interference played any role.
Why This Plugs Into a Bigger Anxiety
The episode has drawn attention partly because of what it represents rather than what has been proven. Australia relies on a network of 16 subsea cables to carry an estimated 99 percent of its international data traffic, according to a security researcher at the Australian National University's National Security College. A recent defence-adjacent report from that institution has separately raised concerns about growing risks to submarine cable infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific region. Commentary around the Perth incident has also referenced unrelated prior cases near Taiwan and in the Baltic and Finland region, where some experts have attributed damage to state actors. Many observers note that these comparisons are useful for understanding the broader landscape of subsea cable vulnerability, but there is no established link between those separate incidents and the Perth faults. The juxtaposition is contextual, not evidentiary, and should not be read as an indication of what happened off Perth.
What Happens Next
Physical recovery and inspection of the damaged cable sections will likely be the deciding factor in determining what actually occurred. A recurring consumer and industry concern is the absence of real-time monitoring tools like FibreSense on cables of this importance, a gap that may shape how future incidents in the region are detected and diagnosed. For now, the matter remains an open investigation. It has not been confirmed as sabotage, an accident, or anything in between, and further developments will depend on the findings once the cable sections are examined.