AFP assessing report in connection with Perth cable faults

The Australian Federal Police is assessing a report of a potential crime after the owner of two undersea cables laid in protection zones near Perth revealed faults commonly attributed to ship activity.

Bevan Slattery, co-chief and founder of SUBCO, which owns the two Indigo cable systems, confirmed to iTnews that the company reported the incidents to the AFP which, he said, occurred near each other and at a similar time.

Slattery first raised the alarm about the incidents in a post on LinkedIn on the weekend, shortly after SUBCO detected “shunt faults” on its Indigo West and Indigo Central cable systems, which together connect Singapore and Sydney with a landing at Perth in-between.

Shunt faults in undersea cables refer to a condition where the outer insulating layers of the line become damaged exposing the interior components to sea water and are commonly attributed to ships' anchors and fishing activity.

A spokesperson for the AFP told iTnews that the agency was looking into the incident but stopped short of saying it is actively investigating it as a crime.

“The AFP has received a report of crime in relation to this matter. This report is currently being assessed based on the information provided. Further comment will be made at an appropriate time,” the spokesperson said.

In the LinkedIn post, Slattery pointed to a ship tracking chart showing what he described as “suspicious/coincidental” vessel activity in the area.

However, he stopped short of declaring that the cables had been deliberately damaged.

“This could be a coincidence or an external aggression event,” Slattery wrote, explaining that the cause of the fault would have been known instantly had the cables been monitored using FibreSense, an advanced detection system used on some of SUBCO’s other undersea cables.

“Indigo West and Central do not have FiberSense installed and, unfortunately, the consortium will not know the root cause until the cable is recovered during repair,” he wrote.

Nevertheless, Slattery said that it was still important that authorities investigate as it may be the second time such an incident has occurred in a cable protection zone.

“This maybe a coincidence, but it’s important for the Australian Federal Police to investigate the issue urgently,” Slattery wrote.

Regional internet provider AusInternet, which uses the Indigo West cable, has been advising of an outage on the link on its website since Saturday evening, saying that it has been routing traffic around the apparent break.

Early yesterday it was advising customers that the earliest fix to the cable was expected August 26.

“The Indigo team has engaged their marine maintenance operator for vessel allocation and planning of the repairs. ETA is on August 26 2026. All timelines remain subject to clearance, logistics arrangement and weather conditions,” it advised.

Slattery said that SUBCO would be following up its report to the AFP with more information soon.