A submarine cable known as the Bulikula links Fiji with Guam. The uncommon shell known as “golden cowrie,” which is found in the Pacific Ocean, is called “bulikula” in Fijian. Local chieftains frequently wear it as a symbol of rank. As part of Google’s Central Pacific Connect effort, the Bulikula undersea cable system connects French Polynesia and Guam through Bulikula and Halaihai.
Google’s Central Pacific Connect program stems from the Central Pacific Cable project, which demonstrates a strategic initiative of the United States to connect numerous Pacific islands and strengthen the U.S.’s interests in the Pacific area, where it competes for influence with China.
Google collaborates on the Central Pacific Connect project and the Bulikula underwater cable infrastructure with Telstra, APTelecom, and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH).
In March 1998, Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited (ATH) was established as a public corporation. Its primary function was to combine the Fijian government’s telecommunications investments for the goal of privatisation as part of its public sector reform program. The Bulikula cable, which connects Guam and Fiji, has a fibre pair on its core trunk that is owned and operated by Telstra.
Central Pacific Cable
The Central Pacific Cable is a proposed 15,900-kilometer subsea cable that would link American Samoa and Guam, two U.S. territories, and possibly up to 12 additional Pacific islands, such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna. The Central Pacific Cable project is an example of an American strategic endeavour that intends to strengthen American interests in the Pacific, where it faces competition from China for influence, by connecting many Pacific islands.
Tuvalu Telecom Corporation (TTC) has been granted funding by the U.S. Trade and Construction Agency (USTDA) to conduct a feasibility study to facilitate the Central Pacific Cable’s construction. APTelecom LLC, based in Florida, has been chosen by TTC to carry out the feasibility study.
Google revealed plans in January 2024 for the Central Pacific Connect program, which calls for the construction of two new intra-Pacific cables, Bulikula and Halaihai, to link Guam with French Polynesia and Fuji, respectively. For the Central Pacific Connect project, Google works with APTelecom, Telstra, and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) of Fiji.
Google Announces Central Pacific Connect Initiative to Build Bulikula and Halaihai Subsea Cables
Google revealed plans for the Central Pacific Connect program to develop two additional intra-Pacific cables — Bulikula and Halaihai —connecting Guam with Fuji and French Polynesia, respectively. Google will work with APTelecom, Telstra, and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) of Fiji on the Central Pacific Connect project, which aims to improve digital connection in the area.
Halaihai
French Polynesia and Guam are connected via the Halaihai underwater cable. The name Halaihai comes from a particular kind of beach-growing vine. The Chamorro phrase “tilifón halaihai,” which describes information that is shared from person to person over the phone, the internet, or in person, frequently uses this word.
As a component of Google’s Central Pacific Connect effort, the Halaihai submarine cable system connects Guam and Fiji, along with Bulikula.
Google’s Central Pacific Connect endeavour is based on the Central Pacific Cable project, which illustrates an American strategic initiative to link many Pacific islands and further American interests in the region as it vies with China for influence.
Google partners with Telstra, APTelecom, and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) on the Central Pacific Connect initiative.
Hawaiki Cable
Hawaii and Oregon on the U.S. West Coast are connected by the 15,000-kilometer Hawaiki Cable to Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, New Caledonia, Tonga, and other Pacific Islands.
The Hawaiki Cable System provides the following connections on its trans-Pacific path, with an original design capacity of 30 Tbps: Two fibre pairs from Australia to Hawaii, 20 Tbps; one fibre pair from New Zealand to Hawaii, 10 Tbps; three fibre pairs from Hawaii to Hillsboro, 30 Tbps; one fibre pair from Australia to New Zealand, 12 Tbps; two fibre pairs from 100-200Gbps Branching Unit to America Somoa; two fibre pairs from Tomoo Cable to New Caledonia, up to 2 Tbps per fibre pair.
With its headquarters located in Auckland, New Zealand, Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP (HSC LP) is the sole owner and constructor of the main trunk of the Hawaiki cable system. In 2021, BW Digital Pte Ltd purchased HSC LP. Hawaiki Cable initially invested a total of about $300 million (NZD 445 million). The cable landing stations (“CLS”) in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Oregon are owned and/or operated by HSC LP and its affiliates.
- Australia: CLS in Sydney is colocated at Equinix SY4.
- New Zealand: HSC LP builds and owns a new CLS in Mangawhai Heads.
- Hawaii: HSC USA builds and owns a new CLS in Kapolei, with DRFortress acting as a landing party in Hawaii.
- Oregon: CLS in Pacific City is leased from Tillamook Lightwave, which owns the CLS. ACS Cable Systems, LLC operates the CLS in Oregon under an agreement with HSC USA. The SLTE of the Hawaiki cable system is terminated at Flexential’s Brookwood data center in Hillsboro.
American Samoa Telecommunications Authority (“ASTCA”), the government-owned incumbent local exchange carrier in the U.S. Territory of American Samoa, owns, constructs, and operates the branch to American Samoa and the corresponding landing station.
Hawaiki Cable’s first anchor customer was Research and Educational Advanced Network New Zealand (Reannz), which is owned by the Government of New Zealand.
As of July 2014, the Government has entered into the anchor tenancy deal with Hawaiki Cable, valued at $ 65 million. Throughout the 25-year lease, annual fees plus a $15 million upfront investment make up the overall cost of the arrangement. The $15 million contribution from an appropriation set aside for the purchase of an anchor tenant on a new trans-Tasman and trans-Pacific submarine cable has been made by the government. Reannz will use its current earnings to cover the yearly levies.
Amazon AWS made its first investment in an international submarine cable system when it acquired capacity in the Hawaiki cable system in October 2016. On July 20, 2018, the Hawaiki submarine cable system became operational.
Australia-based Palisade Investment Partners gained de facto ownership of HSC LP and the Hawaiki Cable System in September 2018 after it purchased a thirty percent stake in the latter. Based on the easternmost section of the SEA-US cable, Hawaiki Cable launched a new undersea link to the US in June 2019 that provides a direct connection to Los Angeles.
The Société Calédonienne de Connectivité Internationale (SCCI) was designated as the landing party for Hawaiki Cable’s December 2019 announcement to open a branch called “Tomoo Cable” in New Caledonia. Through its subsidiary BW Digital Pte. Ltd., BW Group Limited purchased all of the shares of HSC LP and the Hawaiki Cable System in July 2021. The acquisition was finalised in May 2022, contingent upon relevant regulatory filings and clearances. According to estimates in the local news, BW Group paid approximately US$350 million for the sale of the Palisade-led consortium.
A USD$32 million (NZ$42 million) investment was jointly funded by the governments of Australia and New Zealand in June 2024 to construct the Tonga Hawaiki Branch System, a second international subsea cable to Tonga.
Hawaiki Nui
A 22,000-kilometer submarine cable called Hawaiki Nui links the United States, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, and New Zealand. Hawaiki Submarine Cable Limited Partnership (Hawaiki) began construction of the Hawaiki Nui subsea cable project in November 2021. PT Mora Telematika Indonesia, also known as Moratelindo, has been chosen by Hawaiki to be its strategic partner for Indonesia. In addition to providing local terrestrial infrastructure for the subsea cable to be landed in Indonesia, Moratelindo will act as the landing party for the project in Indonesia and obtain all relevant permits and authorisations in that country.
With a design capacity of 240Tbps, the Hawaiki Nui cable system uses the most recent spatial division multiplexing (SDM) technology. The Hawaiki Nui cable system will link Singapore, Sydney, and Los Angeles—the three major hubs of the Pacific region—end to end.
Additionally, landings are scheduled in Indonesia’s Jakarta and Batam. Hawaiki Nui will provide direct access to Singapore and Los Angeles for Australian cities Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Darwin.
As the first international cable to enter the South Island of New Zealand, Hawaiki Nui will connect Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill to Australia along a brand-new, highly varied undersea path. Furthermore, two branches linking Hawaii’s Big Island and Oahu will be constructed.
Hawaiki Nui, which will connect Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill to Australia by a brand-new, highly varied undersea path, will be the first international cable to arrive on New Zealand’s South Island. In addition, two branches connecting Hawaii’s Big Island and Oahu will be constructed. The Hawaiki cable now in place will be coupled with Hawaiki Nui. It is anticipated that the Hawaiki Nui cable system will be operational in 2027.
Honomoana
With two Australian landings in Melbourne and Sydney and a branch to Auckland, New Zealand, Honomoana is a brand-new transpacific subsea cable that connects the United States, French Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Honomoana, named from the Polynesian words for “ocean” (moana) and “link” (hono), is a cable system that is a component of Google’s South Pacific Connect initiative, along with Tabua, which connects Fiji to the United States and Australia. The South Pacific Connect program will build physically diverse cable landing stations in Fiji and French Polynesia in addition to Honomoana and Tabua, and connect them with an interlink cable. Australia, Fiji, and French Polynesia will form a ring around each other thanks to the South Pacific Connect project.
Pre-positioned branching units within this ring will enable additional Oceanian nations and territories to benefit from the initiative’s dependability and resilience.
Humboldt Cable
The Humboldt Cable System is a 14810-kilometer submarine cable that links Australia, French Polynesia, and Chile. It also has branching that may be able to connect to additional nations and regions. Google, Chile’s Desarrollo País, and the Office of Posts and Telecommunications of French Polynesia (OPT) make up the Humboldt Consortium.
The government of Chile launched the ambitious Humboldt subsea cable project in 2014 intending to connect South America and the Asia-Pacific region with a direct fibre optic network.
Telecommunications Management Group, Inc. (TMG) and WFN Strategies, LLC (WFN) were chosen in September 2019 by Chile’s Fondo de Infraestructura, S.A. to conduct an economic, technical, and legal feasibility assessment for the Humboldt Cable System.
The feasibility study was supported by the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), which awarded US$2,982,532 to the TMG-WFN consortium. 2020 saw the Chilean government select the Japanese NEC’s proposed solution to construct the Humboldt undersea cable, which would connect Chile to Australia and New Zealand. China had proposed making Shanghai the ultimate landing destination, but Japan’s plan topped them both, according to the financial daily Nikkei in Japan.
Amid an American pressure campaign to keep China out of the global telecommunications projects, the Chilean government made this decision. The Humboldt Cable project was initially estimated to cost roughly US$ 400 million, including financing support from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Japan ICT financing (JICT Fund).
H2 Cable LP, a division of BW Digital, the company that owns the Hawaiki Cable System, was chosen as a strategic partner for the development of the Humboldt Cable System in December 2021 by the Chilean Fondo de Infraestructura, S.A. H2 Cable later withdrew from the project. Google joined the Humboldt undersea cable project in January 2024, rerouting it to connect Australia, French Polynesia, Chile, and New Zealand. In the first half of 2024, Google and Desarrollo País of Chile will launch a joint venture. The marine survey in Chile is expected to be conducted in August or September 2024 by SubCom.
SubCom has been chosen to serve as the Humboldt subsea cable project’s new system supplier. As per the news release issued by the Chilean government, the Humboldt subsea cable project is estimated to cost US$400 million and feature a system capacity of 144Tbps along with a cable length of 14800km.
Southern Cross
Nine cable landing stations (two in each of Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and the US mainland, plus one in Fiji) and an access point in San Jose, California make up the Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN), which is a protected ring network. With about 30,500 km in length, made up of 1,600 km of terrestrial and 28,900 km of submarine cable, the Southern Cross Cable Network includes 3 fibre pairs on the Hawaii Inter-Island cable, 4 fibre pairs between Hawaii and the US West Coast, and 3 fibre pairs between Sydney and Hawaii.
The Ready for Service (RFS) for Phase A of the Southern Cross network – comprising all nine stations and all segments except Segment D (from Hawaii to California) – was achieved on 15 November 2000. Completion of the fully protected loop network (RFS Phase B) was achieved on 28 February 2001.
Southern Cross Cables Limited (SCCL), a Bermuda private limited company, and its sister firm Pacific Carriage Limited Inc. (PCLI), which were individually owned by Spark NZ (50%), Singtel EInvestments (40%) and Verizon Business (10%), are the entities that invest in, own, and operate the Southern Cross Cable Network. In 2018, Telstra acquired a 25% stake in SCCN and substantial capacity on both the existing network and the new Southern Cross NEXT subsea cable. As a result, SCCL is owned by Spark NZ (38.12%), Singtel EInvestments (30.49%), Telstra (25%), and Verizon Business (6.4%). Visit here for the ownership chart of SCCL and PCLI.
The initial plan for the Southern Cross Cable Network was for 10 Gbps DWDM operation and 120 Gbps of completely protected capacity (240 Gbps total network capacity). Southern Cross reported on July 30, 2013, that it had successfully upgraded to Ciena’s 100G technology, raising its system capacity to 12Tbps and lighted capacity to 2.6Tbps. The Southern Cross Cable Network had an active capacity of 13.4 Tbps and could deliver a system capacity of 18 Tbps by the end of 2023.
PCLI and SCCL renamed the system Southern Cross 1&2 system and applied in November 2023 for a new 25-year cable landing licence for the Southern Cross Cable Network. The northern traffic route on the system connecting Sydney, Australia; Kahe Point, Hawaii; Nedonna Beach, Oregon; and Suva, Fiji is known as Southern Cross1.
The southern traffic route on the system connecting Sydney, Australia, Tapakuna, New Zealand, Spencer Beach, Hawaii, and Morro Bay, California is known as Southern Cross 2, BrandSpur digital news platform reports.
Southern Cross NEXT
A 15,857-kilometer submarine cable network called Southern Cross NEXT connects Sydney, Auckland, and Los Angeles. It also has branching units that connect the Pacific Islands of Kiribati, Fiji, and Tokelau. With a design capacity of 72 Tbps and four fibre pairs over its trunk between Sydney and Los Angeles, the Southern Cross NEXT will be a high capacity express route that offers data-center connectivity between Sydney, Auckland, and Los Angeles. It is expected to be the lowest latency path from Australia and New Zealand to the United States. The current Southern Cross ecosystem is being expanded upon by the Southern Cross NEXT.
The Southern Cross NEXT is expected to cost around US$350 million, invested by Southern Cross Cable Limited (a Bermuda private limited company), with its sister company Pacific Carriage Limited Inc (PCLI, a Delaware corporation) as landing party in the US, and its subsidiaries in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Pacific Island as landing party in corresponding countries. Please visit here for more details about the Southern Cross NEXT system ownership.
Singtel-Optus held 40% of Southern Cross Cable Limited, Spark NZ owned 50%, and Verizon Business controlled 10%. December 2018 saw Telstra purchase a significant amount of capacity on the new Southern Cross NEXT subsea cable as well as a 25% interest in SCCN. Thus, Spark NZ (38.12%), Singtel EInvestments (30.49%), Telstra (25%), and Verizon Business (6.4%) are the owners of SCCL.
Continuing, Pacific Carriage Limited Inc. is owned similarly, with Singtel’s Optus Networks Pty Ltd taking the place of Singtel EInvestments. To view the SCCL and PCLI ownership chart, click this link.
In October 2019, ASN was given the supply contract and issued CIF (Contract In Force). On July 7, 2022, the Southern Cross NEXT was put into service.
Tabua
A brand-new underwater cable called Tabua spans the Pacific, linking Fiji with the United States and Australia. The Tabua cable system, named after a whale tooth that holds great significance in Fiji, is a component of Google’s South Pacific Connect effort.
Along with Honomoana, Tabua connects French Polynesia to the United States and Australia. The South Pacific Connect program will build physically diverse cable landing stations in Fiji and French Polynesia in addition to Honomoana and Tabua, and connect them with an interlink cable.
Australia, Fiji, and French Polynesia will form a ring around each other thanks to the South Pacific Connect initiative.
Pre-positioned branching units within this ring will enable additional Oceanian nations and territories to benefit from the initiative’s dependability and resilience. Google declared in April 2024 that it would develop the Taihei underwater cable, which would link Hawaii and Japan, and extend the Tabua subsea cable to Hawaii. An indirect, fully owned subsidiary of Google LLC, Starfish Infrastructure Inc. (Starfish), is the private owner and operator of the Tabua Cable system. Delaware is where Google and Starfish are both incorporated in the US.
The Tabua cable system has 16 fibre pairs on its trunk and branching segments. Using current technology, each fibre pair is intended with a minimum capacity of about 17 Tbps, for a total system capacity of 272 Tbps. The fibre pairs include:
● Transpacific Trunk: between Los Angeles, California, and New South Wales, Australia.
● Oahu Segment: connecting the Hawaiian Island of Oahu to a branching unit on the Trunk.
● Suva Segment: connecting Suva, Fiji, to a branching unit on the Trunk.
● Natadola Segment: connecting Natadola, Fiji, to a branching unit on the Trunk.
● Queensland Segment: connecting Queensland, Australia to a branching unit on the Trunk.
Beginning in the third quarter of 2025, Starfish plans to build and test the Tabua cable system in the US seas. The US landing locations of the system will subsequently go into commercial operation in the first quarter of 2026.
Apart from the Tabua cable system, Starfish is the organisation behind additional subsea cables that Google has invested in, like Nuvem.
Trans-Pacific Networks and Telstra International Collaborate on the Echo Cable System, Linking Asia, and the US Telstra International announced the partnership with Trans-Pacific Networks (TPN) on the Echo cable, the first undersea cable to directly connect the US to Singapore, creating a new route and bringing crucial connectivity in the Trans-Pacific.
