Connecting French Polynesia to the world

ICT in French Polynesia will likely see further improvement as the territory’s infrastructure is expected to connect to a new submarine cable.

Hawaiki Niu Submarine Cable LP, a subsidiary of BW digital, and Office Des Postes Et Telecommunications of French Polynesia, have partnered to assess the connection.

Translated as ‘The Great Hawaiki‘ in Polynesian, the 26,000km Hawaiki Nui submarine cable will be built on the existing Hawaiki Transpacific Cable asset, launched in 2018, which links Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, Hawaii and Oregon on the west coast of the US. Hawaiki Nui will provide end-to-end connectivity between South-East Asia, Australasia and North America.

The agreement announced Monday marks the first step towards a strategic collaboration between the two partners to design a turnkey solution for the connection of French Polynesia to Hawaiki Nui cable, including a more-than 2,000km subsea branch to Tahiti, and the provision of international capacity to the main hubs of the Pacific region: Singapore, Sydney and Los Angeles.

OPT’s international network is currently based on the Honotua cable from Tahiti to Hawaii and the Manatua cable from Tahiti to Cook Islands, Niue and Samoa.

“We look forward to working with OPT to realise our shared vision of developing international connectivity throughout the Indo-Pacific route,” said Remi Galasso, CEO of Hawaiki Nui.

“We see this partnership bringing together our respective powerful competences in telecommunications infrastructure to design a new transpacific digital highway that will capitalise on, and underscore, French Polynesia’s strategic location.”

Jean-François Martin, CEO of OPT said: “This collaboration with Hawaiki Nui gives us the opportunity to reach a new stage in our growth strategy within the international connectivity sector. Direct access to a transpacific cable such as Hawaiki Nui will enable us to expand and secure our network as well as position Tahiti as a new regional hub in the South Pacific between Asian and American continents.”

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