Google announces TalayLink cable connecting Thailand and Australia through a new Indian Ocean route

A direct connection with a different route

Google has announced TalayLink, a subsea cable designed to provide the first direct connection between Australia and Thailand, alongside new connectivity hubs in Mandurah in Western Australia and southern Thailand. The cable will cross the Indian Ocean west of the Sunda Strait, adding a route outside a busy corridor near Indonesia that many existing cables use to reach Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia.

As of December 3, 2025, Google has not disclosed TalayLink's completion date, system capacity, detailed technical specifications or cost. The company has said that two related cables, interlink and Bosun, will connect Christmas Island to mainland Australia in 2027. TalayLink will also touch Christmas Island on its way to Thailand, making the island an increasingly important junction for traffic across the Indian Ocean.

Google intends the new system to add capacity, reduce latency and improve reliability between Southeast Asia and Australia. Capacity is the amount of data a network can carry. Latency is the delay between sending data and receiving a response, something users notice when a video call pauses or an online service takes time to respond.

Businesses and consumers in both regions are moving more work to cloud services, streaming more content and adopting artificial intelligence services. Those activities depend on fast, consistent connections. A direct cable can shorten the journey data takes, ease congestion and provide another path when an existing route becomes unavailable.

TalayLink will connect with Google's wider network, including a planned Google Cloud Region and a new Google data center in Thailand. Together, those investments are intended to bring computing services closer to Thai users while giving international traffic more ways to reach its destination.

Why avoiding a crowded corridor matters

The Sunda Strait lies near active geological zones and busy shipping lanes. Google is taking TalayLink across the Indian Ocean to the west of that corridor, spreading connectivity across more routes instead of concentrating it in the same passage.

Subsea cables carry the vast majority of international internet traffic. Although they are protected, fishing activity and ship anchors can damage them. Earthquakes and volcanic activity can also interrupt service. When several connections depend on a similar route, a disruption in that area can affect more than one system.

TalayLink adds another long distance option for carriers, cloud providers and users. Its route also gives traffic an alternative to crowded straits near Singapore and Indonesia. Operators with access to several paths can redirect data when a cable develops a fault or a route becomes overloaded, helping keep services available with less disruption.

A direct Australia to Thailand connection can also avoid detours through third countries. Shorter distances and fewer network hops, the stages through which data passes, can reduce delay. Small improvements can matter when large numbers of people and businesses use services at the same time.

Cloud and AI workloads are among the services expected to benefit from more consistent performance. Extra routes also allow operators to spread traffic across available connections, easing pressure on any single cable.

Mandurah adds another way into Western Australia

Mandurah, about 75 kilometers south of central Perth, will host one of Google's new connectivity hubs. Most of Western Australia's existing subsea cables arrive in Perth, so a landing location in Mandurah gives the state an additional point of entry.

The hub will support cable switching, content caching and colocation. Switching directs traffic between connections. Caching stores copies of frequently requested content closer to users, while colocation provides space for network equipment operated by other companies.

Mandurah's hub will be a smaller facility focused on moving and managing data, rather than a full hyperscale data center. Its location near Perth, but separate from the city's established landing points, gives network planners more flexibility when designing connections into the state.

A second landing location can help operators maintain service during maintenance or a cable fault. Local and state stakeholders will support landing arrangements, permits, power supplies and backhaul connections. Backhaul is the land network that carries traffic from a cable landing point toward cities and the wider national fiber network.

Connections between Mandurah, Perth and the national backbone can be planned with alternative paths. Content stored at the hub can also shorten the journey for streaming media and software updates, reducing the need to retrieve every request from a distant server.

Southern Thailand's hub and local partners

Google will work with AIS, Advanced Info Service, as its colocation partner in southern Thailand. AIS is Thailand's largest mobile and fixed operator, and its facilities and local network reach are expected to help speed deployment and simplify continuing operations.

International Gateway Company, a subsidiary of ALT Telecom, has been named as a landing partner in Thailand. Its experience includes national network management, cable landing and international gateway operations, the connections through which data enters and leaves a country's networks.

Established infrastructure in the region includes a cable landing station in Satun and data center capacity around Hat Yai. Those facilities offer a way to integrate TalayLink with Thailand's terrestrial networks and connect it to domestic fiber routes, the planned Google Cloud Region and the new data center.

AIS and ALT Telecom bring different responsibilities to the project. AIS will support the colocation environment, while International Gateway Company brings experience relevant to marine surveys, permitting, construction and the transition from testing to carrying live traffic.

Using existing infrastructure can help Google deploy the southern Thailand hub efficiently. Thai operators' participation also keeps local expertise involved in construction and continuing operation, while helping the international cable connect with networks already serving the country.

Christmas Island becomes a larger network junction

TalayLink extends the interlink cable initiative announced under Google's Australia Connect program. That program is creating routes across Australia and into the Indian Ocean, with Christmas Island serving as a key node.

Christmas Island already has a landing for the Australia Singapore Cable operated by Vocus. Google's planned interlink and Bosun connections will add links to mainland Australia in 2027. With TalayLink passing through the island toward Thailand, operators will gain more choices for moving traffic between Australia, Southeast Asia and other Indian Ocean routes.

Google's related projects connect different parts of this network:

• Australia Connect interlink is a domestic and nearshore project linking Australian capitals with new landing points, including Christmas Island, and creating new routes between eastern and western Australia.
• Bosun is planned to connect Darwin with Christmas Island, linking northern Australia to an offshore node.
• Dhivaru is a Trans Indian Ocean system linking the Maldives, Christmas Island and Oman, providing onward routes toward the Middle East and Africa.
• Echo and other Pacific systems add capacity between Asia, Oceania and the United States.
• Planned projects including Honomoana, Humboldt, Bulikula, Taihei, Proa and Umoja extend reach across the Pacific and around Africa.

These cables and hubs form a network with several possible journeys between destinations. When one segment is busy or damaged, traffic can move through another available route. TalayLink contributes a direct Thailand connection to that wider expansion across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

How the cable supports Thailand's digital plans

Thai policymakers have set goals to grow the digital economy, improve skills and encourage AI adoption across industry and government. TalayLink supports those ambitions by adding international capacity and alternative routes to a country that already serves as a crossroads for Southeast Asian subsea systems.

Officials at the Thailand Board of Investment have described the project as a key piece of national infrastructure. They expect it to strengthen network resilience and support Thailand's role as a regional digital gateway for cloud and AI services.

Google's planned Cloud Region and data center address another part of that goal: placing more computing and storage capacity closer to Thai users. The cable supplies international connections, while the local facilities bring services nearer to the people and organizations using them.

Thai enterprises could benefit from a wider choice of international connections and more consistent access to cloud platforms. Startups and content providers can use local caching and peering, where networks exchange traffic, to reduce journeys to distant servers.

Public sector services can also use additional capacity and alternative routes for digital service delivery, disaster recovery and research collaborations across borders. Local partnerships with AIS and ALT Telecom support the connection between those international routes and Thailand's domestic fiber networks.

What Australian users and businesses gain

Australia has experienced steady growth in cloud use, with major providers operating regions in Sydney and Melbourne. More routes to Southeast Asia can support digital services, gaming, video and enterprise workloads, as well as more direct connections to partners and customers across the ASEAN market.

Western Australia has particular reasons to value another landing location. The state covers long distances and has resource industry operations that depend on reliable connectivity. Mandurah adds an alternative to the concentration of cable arrivals in Perth.

Routes with lower latency to Thailand can help companies collaborate in real time, synchronize data and support remote operations. Those uses matter for energy and mining businesses headquartered in Perth or working in remote areas.

Christmas Island's expanding connections also give Australia more options beyond the direct Thailand route. Interlink and Bosun will feed capacity from the mainland into the island, where traffic can connect with other Indian Ocean systems such as Dhivaru.

Carriers and cloud providers can use that wider network to route around outages or crowded corridors. Reducing dependence on a single connection helps limit the widespread slowdowns that have historically followed damage to major cables.

How a cable carries data beneath the ocean

A modern subsea cable contains optical fibers inside protective layers of steel and polyethylene. Light signals travel through pairs of fibers, carrying internet traffic in each direction.

Signals weaken as they travel, so optical repeaters are installed at intervals along the seabed. These devices amplify the signals and receive power from an electrical current running through conductive layers in the cable.

At the coast, the system reaches a cable landing station. Traffic then passes into terrestrial fiber networks and internet exchange points, where networks connect and exchange data. The ocean crossing is one part of the journey; reliable connections on land are also needed to reach users and services.

New systems measure capacity in terabits per second. Operators can increase throughput over time by upgrading terminal equipment and using advanced modulation and multiplexing techniques. In simple terms, those methods pack more information into the light signals traveling through the fibers.

The physical cable can last two decades or more with proper maintenance. Its greatest damage risk is usually in shallow coastal waters, making cable protection, carefully planned landing sites and route selection central to reliable service.

Why hubs differ from data centers

Google's hubs in Mandurah and southern Thailand will focus on routing and optimization. A full hyperscale data center provides large amounts of computing and storage; a connectivity hub concentrates on getting traffic to the right network efficiently.

Placing caches and interconnection points closer to users can keep more traffic local. Frequently requested content can be served nearby, while data that needs to cross an ocean can be directed toward an appropriate cable.

Alternative cable connections give operators more control when traffic needs to be rebalanced quickly. A hub can help shift data toward another available path during heavy demand, maintenance or a fault.

TalayLink, the two hubs and the planned facilities in Thailand therefore serve connected purposes. The cable supplies an international path, the hubs manage connections and traffic, and the Cloud Region and data center place computing and storage nearer to users.

Construction stages and the network timeline

Subsea projects typically pass through marine surveys, environmental assessments, permits, manufacturing, cable laying, splicing and testing before they carry live traffic. That process can take several years, and TalayLink will join the wider network as marine work progresses and the connectivity hubs come online.

The announced milestones distinguish the new Thailand connection from the related links with a stated year:

• By December 3, 2025, Google had announced TalayLink and the planned connectivity hubs in Mandurah and southern Thailand.
• In 2027, Google's interlink and Bosun cables are slated to connect Christmas Island with mainland Australia.

Long transoceanic cable projects often have budgets reaching hundreds of millions of dollars. Costs vary with route length, the number of landing points, seabed conditions and engineering needs at each location.

Google's wider construction program points to investment across several years in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, covering multiple cables and landing facilities. TalayLink is one part of that larger network build, alongside routes serving Australia, the Pacific and onward connections toward Oman and Africa.

Security and geography shape the network

Natural hazards, accidental damage from fishing or anchors, and security concerns all influence subsea cable routes and protection choices. A wider set of paths gives operators more ways to keep services running when one segment is affected.

Regional geopolitics also influence infrastructure decisions. Countries and companies seek routes that avoid contested waters and connect smoothly with domestic networks. TalayLink's route west of the Sunda Strait adds another option outside crowded corridors.

Hubs in Western Australia, southern Thailand, the Maldives and Christmas Island create bridge points for connections in several directions. Onward links through Oman can extend that network toward the Middle East and Africa.

For businesses and public agencies, the practical value is more stable access to cloud services and applications used across borders. TalayLink combines a direct Australia to Thailand connection with local landing infrastructure and a wider network of alternative routes.

What to Know

• Google has announced TalayLink as the first direct subsea cable connection between Australia and Thailand.
• The cable will cross the Indian Ocean west of the Sunda Strait and touch Christmas Island on its way to Thailand.
• New connectivity hubs are planned in Mandurah, about 75 kilometers south of central Perth, and southern Thailand.
• AIS is the southern Thailand colocation partner. ALT Telecom subsidiary International Gateway Company is a landing partner.
• TalayLink will connect with Google's wider network, including a planned Cloud Region and a new data center in Thailand.
• Interlink and Bosun are slated to connect Christmas Island with mainland Australia in 2027.
• Dhivaru will link the Maldives, Christmas Island and Oman, adding onward routes toward the Middle East and Africa.
• As of December 3, 2025, TalayLink's completion date, capacity, detailed specifications and cost had not been disclosed.