Japan Selects Four Cable Landing Subsidy Recipients

Publication Staff, CIAJ
October 9, 2026

CIAJ announced on October 9, 2026, that it had selected four indirect subsidy recipients under Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications program to strengthen digital infrastructure through diversification of international submarine-cable routes. The selection covers cable landing-station development and international submarine-cable branch-line and branching-unit infrastructure. The application window ran from June 5 to July 6, 2026, after which CIAJ assessed the proposals and named the successful applicants.

SoftBank Corp. was selected for work in Tomakomai, Hokkaido. The other recipients are IPS, Inc. for an offshore Wakayama City location, IPS Pro, Inc. for work in Wakayama City, and Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc. for Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture, together with the nearby offshore area. The selection therefore spans land-based and offshore implementation locations in three prefectures under the international cable infrastructure call.

The subsidy comes from Japan’s Digital Infrastructure Development Fund and supports part of private-sector project costs. The call’s technical scope included landing stations and international cable branch lines and branching units, rather than domestic submarine-cable development on its own. Standalone domestic cable work did not qualify unless it formed part of the specified international branch infrastructure. That distinction places the selected support within the program’s international route-diversification objective.

For the submarine-cable industry, the significance is the geographic spread of proposed landing and branch infrastructure across Hokkaido, Wakayama, and Tokushima. The selection advances the government’s stated objective of diversifying international routes and strengthening communications resilience. CIAJ says the wider initiative is intended to distribute data centers, submarine-cable facilities and internet exchanges beyond concentrated locations, creating more resilient communications hubs. This award decision addresses the landing and branch-infrastructure portion of that effort.

The confirmed current status is recipient selection, not the start of construction. CIAJ says projects will begin after the required procedures between the association and the selected recipients. The official call schedule also states that subsidy operations can begin only after the grant-decision notice. Those administrative steps are the next confirmed milestones; the verified information does not identify particular cable systems, capacities, funding amounts, detailed routes, construction schedules, or completion dates.

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