Hawaiki Transpacific Cable Set for Installation
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TE Connectivity SubCom’s CS Global Sentinel (Photo: TE SubCom)
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Hawaiki Cable System Map (Image: TE SubCom)
The undersea fiber-optic cable and equipment for the 14,000 km Hawaiki transpacific cable system have been manufactured and are in the final stages of being loaded aboard cable laying vessels for deployment to beginning in early October.
The Hawaiki submarine cable system, owned and developed Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP, will link Australia and New Zealand to the mainland United States, as well as Hawaii and American Samoa, with options to expand to additional South Pacific islands. The carrier-neutral cable system was co-developed by New Zealand-based entrepreneurs Sir Eion Edgar, Malcolm Dick and Remi Galasso as the highest cross-sectional capacity link between the U.S. and Australia and New Zealand.
For Hawaiki, more than 14,000 km of cable and more than 170 completed repeaters were manufactured by TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company at the undersea communications technology specialist’s Newington, N.H. facility.
The cable has now been fully loaded onto the vessel CS Global Sentinel, and the CS Responder load is near completion.
“With the cable load process concluding on schedule, we will soon launch the installation phase of the project using two of the industry’s most technologically-advanced cable laying vessels,” said Debra Brask, vice president, project and program management, TE SubCom. “Hawaiki is certainly a large and multi-faceted system, but we are confident in our transpacific expertise and look forward to an efficient deployment.”
Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for the cable landing in Pacific City, Oregon and Sydney, Australia has been completed, and all installation permits for Australia, New Zealand and Oregon are already in hand, and continue to progress as expected in Hawaii. In Sydney, the construction of the land duct route is complete, the installation of the terminal equipment has started and the pulling of the land cable is scheduled to begin shortly. In New Zealand, the construction of the land duct route is complete and the construction of a new cable station is underway.
“The coming months will see the realization of our vision for Hawaiki, a system that will impact the capabilities and economies of hundreds of Pacific communities,” said Remi Galasso, CEO of Hawaiki. “Considering the scope of the project, the progress to date has been staggering. It is a thrill to reach the installation phase and know that we will soon be ready to light the system and deliver much needed capacity to the region.”
The system is on schedule for completion by mid-2018.
February 2024
