Cirebon, Indonesia

Cirebon, Indonesia: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Cirebon is a port city situated on the northern coast of Java, Indonesia's most populous island, approximately 297 kilometres east of Jakarta. Its coastal position on the Java Sea has made it a natural site for submarine cable infrastructure. One submarine cable currently lands at Cirebon, connecting it to the domestic submarine cable network of Indonesia.

The single cable landing here, the Jakarta Surabaya Cable System, known as JAYABAYA, links Cirebon to other points along the Indonesian archipelago. As all endpoints of this cable are within Indonesia, Cirebon functions as a node in a domestic inter-city corridor rather than an international gateway. This places it within the category of landing points that serve intra-national connectivity across the island chain.

Cables Landing at Cirebon

The Jakarta Surabaya Cable System (JAYABAYA) is a submarine cable with a total length of 888 kilometres, with a ready-for-service date of 2018 (draft status). As its name suggests, the cable connects key points along Java, with all endpoints located within Indonesia. Cirebon is one of the intermediate or terminal landing points along this domestic route, contributing to the cable's role in linking Indonesian cities via an undersea fibre path running broadly along the northern Javanese coast.

Regional Context

Within Indonesia's extensive submarine cable infrastructure — which spans 70 cables across 139 landing points — Cirebon ranks among the smaller nodes, hosting a single cable and placing it in the top 62 percent of Indonesian landing points by cable count. Major Indonesian hubs such as Batam (20 cables), Jakarta (9 cables), and Tanjung Pakis (9 cables) each accommodate significantly more cable systems, reflecting their roles as primary international and national gateways. Cirebon occupies a more specialised position, supporting domestic connectivity along the Javanese corridor.

Network Role

Cirebon functions as a single-cable landing point, serving exclusively as a terminus or waypoint on the JAYABAYA domestic cable system. This cable, at 888 kilometres, provides an undersea route between Indonesian cities along or near the Java coastline, supplementing terrestrial network links with a submarine alternative. As a node on a purely domestic cable, Cirebon does not participate directly in international submarine cable routing.

In the broader Indonesian submarine cable graph, Cirebon represents one of many secondary landing points distributed across Java and the wider archipelago, each contributing to the resilience and reach of domestic inter-city connectivity. Its presence on the JAYABAYA system positions it within a coastal corridor that connects population centres along one of the world's most densely inhabited islands.