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Home > Cable ship prepares to roll-out Fiji-Tonga fibre-optic cable

Cable ship prepares to roll-out Fiji-Tonga fibre-optic cable [1]

Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Monday, June 3, 2013 - 14:41.  Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.

The cable ship “Ile de Re” is  preparing to roll-out an 837km underwater fibre-optic cable line from Fiji to Tonga.

The “Ile de Re”, which arrived in Suva last week, is owned by Alcatel-Lucent, a French submarine fibre-optics Company. Alcatel-Lucent signed a deal with Tonga Cable Ltd last year to lay an underwater fibre-optic cable from Fiji to Tonga.

The fibre-optic cable line will connect Tonga to the Southern Cross Cable that connects Fiji, New Zealand and Australia to the United States.

The service expected to be in full operation before the end of June, will have a total capacity of 320Gbits; or 6000 times more than the 50 to 55 Mbits full capacity of Tonga's current satellite network.

The $34 million dollar project is part of the Tongan government's aim to boost Tonga’s internet connectivity, providing a faster and cheaper network. The project is jointly funded by the Tonga Communication Corporation (TCC), the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

A faster and a cheaper network for Tonga is also the objective of the Pacific Regional Connectivity Program to increase the internet bandwidth in the South Pacific.

The French Ambassador to Tonga H.E Gilles Montagnier, based in Fiji expressed his appreciation, "that my country is able to contribute to a better regional integration through telecommunication improvement."

 Fintel

The fibre-optic cable is being connected to the Fijian company Fintel's Southern Cross cable, which runs between Australia, Fiji and Hawaii.
 
Fintel's manager of commercial sales and marketing, George Samisoni, said Tonga will have a significantly faster, more affordable internet service than it currently has with its satellite connection. "It's a massive, massive difference. They're looking at a 2 by 10 gig bandwidth, compare it to what they're enduring now which is around about 20 to 30 megabits per second, which is huge. And as it has happened in Fiji through the Southern Cross cable, the flow on effect will be tremendous." 
 
George said that once Tonga is connected, the company will start work to connect Vanuatu to the Southern Cross cable. 
Fiber-optic cable line
Fiji-Tonga fibre optic cable [2]
Ile de Re [3]
Alcatel-Lucent [4]
Tonga Cable Ltd [5]
telecommunications [6]
Communications [7]

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Source URL:https://matangitonga.to/2013/06/03/cable-ship-prepares-roll-out-fiji-tonga-fibre-optic-cable

Links
[1] https://matangitonga.to/2013/06/03/cable-ship-prepares-roll-out-fiji-tonga-fibre-optic-cable [2] https://matangitonga.to/tag/fiji-tonga-fibre-optic-cable?page=1 [3] https://matangitonga.to/tag/ile-de-re?page=1 [4] https://matangitonga.to/tag/alcatel-lucent-0?page=1 [5] https://matangitonga.to/tag/tonga-cable-ltd-0?page=1 [6] https://matangitonga.to/tag/telecommunications?page=1 [7] https://matangitonga.to/topic/communications?page=1