SubCo’s SMAP subsea cable will no longer connect to the Australian island of Tasmania.

In a LinkedIn post, owner and co-CEO of SubCo Bevan Slattery announced: “Unfortunately, we have not been able to get to a commercial model that would make an extension from the SMAP cable to include Hobart/Tasmania.”

“Due to the population, market size, and market dynamics, this build is non-commercial and needs government support to fund the branch. Regrettably, this has not been secure in time for the manufacturing, so we have had to delete the branch for Tasmania from SMAP.”

The 5,000km domestic cable, first announced by SubCo in 2023, is set to be operational in Q1 2026 and connect Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth.

Originally designed as a 12-fiber pair system, SMAP was upgraded to a planned 16-fiber pair system in May this year.

Slattery added that this is the second cable he’s designed that will pass Tasmanian shores without connectivity in the last decade. However, a new power cable has been proposed for around 2030 to provide the island with alternative capacity.

Currently, Tasmania’s connectivity is via three subsea cables to Australia; Four Mile Bluff, Bass Strait 1, and Bass Strait 2.

SubCo, part of Slattery’s Soda Group, also owns the Oman Australia Cable and owns capacity on the Indigo subsea cables.

First announced in 2020 and launched last year, the 10,000km OAC cable runs from Perth in Australia to Muscat (and later Salalah) in Oman, and features a secret spur to a US Naval base on Diego Garcia island.

Launched in 2019, the 4,850km Indigo Central cable connects Sydney to Perth, while the Indigo West branch connects Perth to Singapore.