Former Economic Minister and opposition leader Fayyaz Ismail has said that the Maldives will lose an advantage with Google's plan to set up an international submarine cable landing station and network facility in Addu City Hithadhoo.
According to announcements by Google and the Maldives government on November 17, the undersea cable system, dubbed "Dhivaru", will connect Oman, the Maldives and the Christmas Islands on the western coast of Australia.
In a post on social media X, Fayyaz revealed that Google had offered the project to the previous government, but they rejected the offer because the project would interfere with the policy of making the Maldives a submarine cable and ICT hub.
"Now the same project is being carried out without disclosing details. This project is a risk to the Maldives' competitive advantage in this sector and the future of the Maldives as a data and connectivity hub in the region," Fayyaz wrote.
He further said that the project has deprived the Maldives of many benefits by giving the power to develop and operate the cable landing station and network facility to foreign parties and by losing an opportunity to diversify the economy.
"The people need to know the details of the project. What was agreed? Who owns the cable and stations? The people need to know how this protects the country's digital future," the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Chairperson stated.
During the administration of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the government-invested India Asia Express (IAX) submarine cable was laid in Hulhumale' and connected to the cable landing site.
IAX is a submarine cable network between Marseille, France and Singapore by India's Geo Telecom. The OCM-IAX cable was connected to the Maldives by 100 percent state-owned Ocean Connect Maldives (OCM) and Indian telecom company Geo Telecom.
The investment was made under the government's Digital Maldives policy and aims to reduce the price and speed of internet services.
In his post on X, Fayyaz said the previous administration had a goal to use the cable to build an ICT export industry that would account for 40 percent of the Maldives' GDP.
There have been no updates on the project under the administration of President Mohamed Muizzu. But the government insisted that the project would go ahead as planned amid rumours that the cable was going to be sold.
