Honomoana was initially scheduled to launch in 2026, providing a route between Syndey, Australia and Los Angeles, California via French Polynesia.
The updated plans include an additional landing in Auckland, New Zealand and a second landing in Australia in Melbourne.
“This agreement with Google will massively expand Vocus’ digital infrastructure footprint. When combined with our existing cables, our network will span from South-East Asia to the US via multiple diverse landings in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific,” said Vocus CEO Ellie Sweeney.
The addition of the Melbourne landing offers a a new domestic Sydney to Melbourne route along Australia’s east coast. Vocus’ existing terrestrial Sydney to Melbourne routes were recently upgraded to offer 400Gbps services.
The addition of the Auckland landing also creates the first diverse route across the Tasman.
When the new cable is ready for service, Vocus will be able to provide as much as 30Tbps of capacity between Australia and New Zealand.
“Pacific Connect will significantly uplift trans-Tasman data capacity with the new Auckland landing, and brilliantly complements our existing network both in Australia and internationally – allowing Vocus to provide our customers with unprecedented network capacity and redundancy across three continents,” Sweeney added.
The agreement will provide Vocus with dark fibre across the Pacific Connect system, with the option to acquire additional capacity in future as demand requires.
This will initially provide Vocus with up to 30Tbps of capacity, depending on the length of the route, when the system is ready for service in 2026.
Honomoana is one of many cables planned by Google as part of its Pacific Connect initiative, which aims to establish diverse routes from the US to Australia, East Asia and various Pacific nations.
The initiative was first announced in October 2023, with Honomana and Tabua the first two cables unveiled as part of the South Pacific Connect project.
The central Pacific Connect initiative was announced in January 2024 and will create a ring between Guam, French Polynesia and Fiji that will include pre-positioned branching units.
This will enable other countries and territories to benefit from this infrastructure in the future.
In April 2024, Google announced two new subsea cables between the US and Japan.
