The Sunshine Coast Plugs into the World
- Tahnia Miller
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
The Tabua subsea cable, part of Google’s Australia Connect initiative, has officially landed at Maroochydore, creating Australia’s first direct digital link to the United States that doesn’t run through Sydney.
What Is Tabua (and Why Is It Such a Big Deal)?
Tabua is a new transpacific subsea cable system connecting Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Japan and the US West Coast.
It forms part of Google’s South Pacific Connect project, a future-focused network designed as a resilient digital “ring” across the Pacific.
The cable lands at the NEXTDC Sunshine Coast Cable Landing Station (SC1) in Maroochydore, positioning the region as a major digital gateway.
What This Means for South East Queensland
1. It supercharges the region’s tech and data-centre ecosystem
The Maroochydore landing directly supports:
NEXTDC’s SC1 data centre
The new SC2 hyperscale facility
Emerging cloud regions and AI-driven industries
With global cloud giants investing heavily in Australia, the Sunshine Coast just became a highly strategic landing point.
2. It strengthens Queensland’s role in the Indo-Pacific
The cable links SEQ into the US–Asia digital trade route, giving local businesses easier access to:
international bandwidth
global customers
digital export markets
Vocus CEO Andrés Irlando says the project positions the Sunshine Coast “at the heart of a new global route between the US and Asia”, a major shift in how Australia routes data.
3. It boosts resilience
Redundant landing points across Fiji, Sydney and Queensland mean that if one part of the network is disrupted (due to storms, earthquakes, sabotage or cable breaks), data can reroute instantly.
For defence, emergency services, major utilities and critical infrastructure operators in SEQ, this is a huge reliability upgrade.
4. It accelerates everyday digital life for locals
For residents, this means:
faster, more stable internet
improved streaming and gaming
smoother remote work
better performance of cloud tools and online learning
more reliable services like Google Maps
Connecting a Region on the Rise
SEQ is one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia, with population and industry surging ahead of the 2032 Olympics. The Tabua cable future-proofs that growth.
It reinforces the Sunshine Coast’s evolution from “beach region” to innovation economy, while supporting Brisbane’s expansion into a globalised digital hub.
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