A meeting of regional telecommunications leaders has approved the final stages of planning for the installation of the Manatua – One Polynesia Cable.
The new optical fibre submarine cable will span the South Pacific. The six landings will be in Tahiti and Bora Bora in French Polynesia, Rarotonga and Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, Apia, Samoa and Niue. It is the first fibre connectivity to Niue and the Cook Islands.
Manatua is a collaboration initiated in April 2017 with the signing of an international treaty by the President of French Polynesia, the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, the Prime Minister of the Independent State of Samoa, and the Premier of the Government of Niue.
Manatua Consortium executives from Office des Postes et Télécommunications (OPT) in French Polynesia, Avaroa Cable Limited (ACL) in the Cook Islands, Telecom Niue Limited (TNL) in Niue, and Samoa Submarine Cable Company (SSCC), in the Independent State of Samoa, met in Apia last week to approve detailed installation plans.
The cable was manufactured by submarine cable company SubCom, which was successful in the supplier selection process held in 2018. Cable lay operations will commence in Samoa in November and in the Niue and Cook Islands in December, and finish in French Polynesia in January 2020.
The meeting marked the culmination of 12 months of intensive consortium efforts overseeing technical design, manufacture, performance validation, marine survey and contractual compliance to ensure the cable will perform to expectations over its 25-year life.
