By Georgia Butler
Telstra International, Google, and APTelecom are partnering on a new subsea cable system connecting islands in the Pacific.
Dubbed “Pacific Connect,” the system will comprise two subsea cables: Bulikula and Halaihai.
Bulikula will connect Guam and Fiji, while Halaihai will connect Guam to French Polynesia.
Telstra will be one of the system’s key telecommunications providers and will own and operate a fiber pair on the core trunk of Bulikula.
Once the first two cables are laid, the next step will be partnering with other carriers and governments to assist in building and operating branches to the other Pacific islands.
“Telstra has decades of experience providing international connectivity in the Pacific, and with our network scale and local expertise, we are looking forward to partnering with Google and APTelecom to build reliable, high-performance connectivity for island countries. We’re committed to improving infrastructure across the region which will support the future growth of local economies,” said CEO, Telstra International Roary Stasko,.
No timelines or details about the cables’ proposed capacity have been shared. DCD has requested more information.
Telstra and APTelecom are also working with Google on the Tabua subsea cable, announced in October 2023. Tabua is one of two cables being developed that will connect Fiji and French Polynesia to the United States and Australia.
Google is also a part of the consortium involved in the Chile-Australia Humboldt cable that will be connecting to French Polynesia. The cable system will span around 15,000km.
Earlier this month, Stonepeak invested US$200m in Guam’s telco GTA. That money will be used to develop more cable landing stations on the island and increase data center capacity.
