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In Australia the permit process is controlled by Schedule 3A of the Telecommunications Act. The Australian Communications and Media Authority, or ACMA is responsible for administering the permit process laid out by the Act. ACMA is responsible for two types of permit, Protection Zone and Non-Protection Zone. The permits cover such issues as: - Environmental impacts
- Cable crossings
- Efficient routing
- Technical engineering
- Commercial aspects of the system (maintenance agreements, repairs/spares policy etc)
- Benefits to Australia
So what do they mean exactly? Let's deal with the Protection Zone first... A Submarine Cable Protection Zone (to give it its full name) is a federally designated area where submarine cables of national significance should be laid in order to gain maximum protection. The risks are most likely to come from boats and ships dopping their anchors, commercial fishermen and recreational users of the sea (including divers and fishermen). If a cable in a Protection Zone is damaged from one of the above activities, there are severe penalties that can be applied to the offender. There are three such zones across Australia. The two zones off Sydney (Southern and Northern) are shown in a map at the bottom of this page. They have been designed to cover the existing East Coast cables, namley Southern Cross (SX) and Australia-Japan Cable (AJC). The third zone is currently under public consultation before being declared and is in Perth. This zone is designed to cover the Se-Me-We-3 cable. In addition to AJC and SX, the cables of APNG-2 (Australia to Papua New Guinea) and Gondwana-1 (Australia to New Caledonia) also land in the Northern Protection Zone. The Southern Protection Zone is used soley by AJC and SX. PPC-1 will land in the Northern Protection Zone. The zones vary in size but all extend to the 2000m water depth mark. From this point to the edge of the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the Non-Protection Zone permit takes over. In PPC-1's case this permit covers the cable all the way up the East Coast of Australia to a point north-east of the Great Barrier Reef, in the Coral Sea. In addition to the information that the ACMA require, approval also has to be sought from the Department of Lands to occupy Crown Land as well as from the Department of the Environment to ensure compliance with the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. This in itself requires up to 6 months of scientific study and reporting. Once all of these conditions are met, a cable company will have all of the permits required to land and operate a cable in Australia.
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