With the final splice now made and all cable installations completed, final testing is set to begin on the 15,000km cable ahead of a service launch date in June, 2018.
Hawaiki cable connects Sydney - Australia, Mangawhai Heads - New Zealand, Tafuna - American Samoa, Kapolei - Hawaii, USA, and Pacific City - Oregon, USA, including stubbed branching units to facilitate future connections to New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga.
Hawaiki will bring greater connectivity, diversity and security of supply to the market,” said Remi Galasso, CEO of Hawaiki. “Because of its scope and impact for communities across the Pacific region, the Hawaiki Cable System is a critical and multi-faceted endeavor. We are pleased with the progress to date and are looking forward to the project’s completion in June and the muchneeded capacity it will bring to the region.”
It has been constructed by TE Subcom and will provide 43Tb of new capacity in the Pacific region.
Back in 2013, TE SubCom came on board as the designer-builder of the 10Tbps per fibre pair cable. Production began in October of 2016, with the first cable landing in Oregon taking place in October 2017. By November the cable had reached its landing station in Sydney and at the top of this year it had appointed XSite Modular, the design-builder of modular cable landing stations, to build a cable landing station in Oahu Hawaii.
American Samoa will act as the cable’s hub for the Polynesian region, with the company indicating that the extra capacity may drive down broadband pricing in the region. There are three fibre pairs along its entire route. Two between Sydney and the US and one between New Zealand and the US. Additionally there are two maintenance vessels that will repair the system over its 25 year lifespan – guaranteed by TE SubCom.
“The TE SubCom and Hawaiki teams have worked well together to complete the Hawaiki Cable System,” said Sanjay Chowbey, President, TE SubCom. “We look forward to this system being completed on time next month.”
