Hawaiki submarine cable heads for mid-2018 launch

Hawaiki says it has completed the route survey for its 14,000km submarine cable connecting New Zealand and Australia to the US mainland via Pacific island nations and Hawaii. The job was done with Hawaiki partner TE SubCom.

Completing the survey puts Hawaiki on track to begin operating from the middle of 2018.

The company says submarine cable manufacturing is now well underway with more than 4,500 km of fibre ready to roll. It also has 25 completed repeaters and work has started on the branching units which will connect the network to American Samoa, New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga.

Hawaiki schedule

TE SubCom vice-president Debra Brask confirmed the project schedule. She says: “Our partnership with Hawaiki’s operations team is very productive and system manufacturing is well on track. In addition, permits are secured in Australia and are well underway in other locations. We continue to be on schedule for a mid-2018 completion.”

When complete Hawaiki will give New Zealand a fourth international submarine cable connection. The Southern Cross Cable Network has a figure of eight design and has links to the east and to the west of New Zealand.

The Tasman Global Access cable makes three. It connects New Zealand to Australia and was due to go live about now but is delayed due to a damaged sea plough.

Meanwhile Southern Cross is talking up its Next cable which it describes as “a high capacity express route, providing datacentre connectivity between Sydney, Auckland, and Los Angeles”. It is due to complete in 2019 and will add a meshed network design so customers can spread their traffic across what will be all three Southern Cross cable routes.