Vocus is lobbying the government to more than double the number of submarine cable protection zones in Australia and to more actively police the areas.
The telco has also asked Home Affairs to consider bringing submarine cables specifically under the Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act, which could bring a greater focus to their security and resiliency.
In a submission to a cyber security strategy inquiry [pdf], Vocus asked for new cable protection zones “in Darwin, Port Hedland, Maroochydore and Christmas Island.”
“These locations are vital to Australia’s connectivity with the Indo-Pacific and northern regions,” Vocus said.
The number of cable protection zones in Australia has been the same since they were first declared in 2007 – three, two in Sydney and one in Perth.
Submarine cables are being brought ashore outside of those zones, however.
It is possible for telcos and cable operators to apply for new zones to be created, but there is a $170,527 application fee.
Vocus has suggested that the government or the Australian Communications and Media Authority foot the bill, in recognition that “the protection of these assets is a matter of strategic national importance.”
Vocus added that cable protection zones should also move beyond acting as a “passive layer of defence” against submarine cable damage.
“Active policing and enforcement will be essential to mitigate risks from both accidental damage and malicious interference,” Vocus said.
Vocus isn’t the first organisation to lobby for an expansion of the cable protection zones.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) last year remarked on the increasing number of cables making land outside of the designated zones.
“It would be an obvious worry if providers don’t feel the zones are worth the effort to register,” ASPI senior analyst Jessie Jacob wrote.
Jacobs said that “cable owners have said that ACMA should be unilaterally declaring and funding these new zones as needed.”
Australian Telecommunications Alliance CEO Luke Coleman – who previously worked at Vocus – also took up the issue of cable protection zones earlier this year.
“Not only do we need more protection zones, but we need active monitoring of those protection zones,” Coleman said.
“At the moment, you submit an application to get a cable landed in a protection zone, but then there is no actual protection offered. Nobody is monitoring those zones. Nobody is enforcing those zones.”