Today, a great engineering endeavour, historically significant in the overall context of submarine cable development is unfolding in the Pacific Ocean. Pacific Connect, a Google supported network of Pacific Ocean cables, encompassing roughly tens of thousands of kilometers of fiber in various systems and interlinks, all announced to the world within the last 15 months, will deliver connectivity not just across the vast ocean, but to the small populations of several widely separated island nations who live there.
While a significant body of work on any number of levels, nowhere is the importance of this development more keenly felt than among the almost 12,000 population of Tuvalu, one of the world’s smallest sovereign nations—by population, if not by area—and the last Pacific Island nation yet to be connected to the global information superhighway by an optical fiber cable.
This work began as a feasibility study for a Central Pacific Cable which has now evolved into the Pacific Connect initiative, a collaboration between APTelecom, Google and others.
Let’s take a closer look.
Environment
The Pacific Island region has a population of approximately 2.3 million people occupying some 15% of the earth’s surface. Distances are vast and populations are small. The environment is harsh. The highly diverse community includes Tuvalu, with its tiny population already mentioned, similarly sized Nauru, and Kiribati, whose population of about 120,000 people, lives on of 33 coral atolls spread over 3.5 million square kilometres: an area larger than India.
Cable Concepts
The general idea of Central Pacific Cable (CPC) first came to light in September 2022. At a regional development meeting in Suva, Fiji, the United States’ government had suggested it was prepared to support deserving projects aimed at developing the economies of the island nations. This dovetails well with the U.S.’s strategic objective of promoting an open, interoperable, secure and reliable, global ICT ecosystem.
Inafa’maolek
Government, industry and community representatives from interested economies across the Pacific Island region got together, along with long-term industry advisors from APTelecom, to consider what a new submarine optical fiber network widely serving the community might look like. These are small economies, where infrastructure funding is frequently externally supported, for example by grant aid or soft financing. Accordingly, means were devised to deliver a modest network, carefully managing limited resources, and delivering the greatest possible benefit at the lowest possible cost. This is a familiar approach locally.
The initial concept was of a backbone trunk, connecting the American territories of Guam and American Samoa, with connecting spurs to up to nine other countries and territories. The rationale for choosing Guam and American Samoa as the terminals for CPC was both technical and financial, aiming to optimise costs and benefits. The proposed system would close a loop with Hawaii, to which both Guam and American Samoa were already connected (Figure 1), creating a ring topology, delivering excellent resilience and, importantly, enabling straightforward onward connections beyond the local community to the regionally important markets of U.S., Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Figure 1: Central Pacific Cable initial concept (in red). The trunk as shown had an estimated length of 5,700km
The local communities would support the common elements collectively. System resilience was to be provided externally, by separate systems, already built and operating.
Proudly leading the communal charge, in high hopes of securing its first submarine cable connection, the Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation (TTC) applied for a grant from the U.S. Trade Development Agency (USTDA) to conduct a feasibility study into the prospective system. The feasibility study is a body of work that evaluates a project based on its technical, financial, market and environmental aspects, and seeks to determine, with a high degree of confidence, whether a concept is likely to be successfully delivered and perform throughout its design life. The application was successful, the grant awarded in September 2023, and work commenced, with Florida-based, APTelecom LLC selected to perform the feasibility study. The results of the study were clear and positive and the system was on track to be funded and built.
“Building Belonging [and] Expanding Opportunity”
Although yet to see the light of day, the work undertaken by the local community in response to the U.S. government’s encouragement was not the only activity then being undertaken. Almost simultaneously with the USTDA’s award of grant funding for Tuvalu’s feasibility study, Google announced plans for the Pacific Connect initiative.
Google’s plans included redundant transpacific cables called “Tabua” and “Honomoana,” connecting Australia and the U.S., cross-connected in Fiji and French Polynesia, delivering double-ring or figure-of-eight protection. This concept offered the highest possible reliability, including double landings in the key nodes at Fiji and French Polynesia that would be unaffordable to local governments or businesses. In January 2024, Google announced a new trans-Pacific subsea cable route called “Humboldt,” linking Chile, French Polynesia, and Australia along with two intra-Pacific cables, “Bulikula,” connecting Guam with Fiji and “Halaihai” linking Guam and French Polynesia.
Figure 2: Google announced Pacific Connect initiative cables, with the original CPC route superimposed in red
Given the extent to which the two sets of plans would overlap, and encouraged by its sponsor, detailed discussions were immediately entered into between TCC and its partners on one hand and Google on the other, with a view to optimising the overlapping objectives of the two approaches.
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A phenomenal amount of cable currently being installed in the Pacific Ocean—far more than might ever have been predicted.
Pacific Connect delivers the first fiber connection to Tuvalu via the Tuvalu Vaka cable. If it were to do no more, the project would be worthy of the effort. Far beyond this, however, in delivering a second landing to several other countries, the entire system delivers the other benefits of badly needed redundancy. More even than this, the Pacific Connect network delivers greatly enhanced resilient connections to the major markets of the Pacific Rim, including, for the first time, through Humboldt, to Chile and South America.
Conclusion
So, what are the benefits that accrue to all this cable building in this historically underserved part of the world? For Pacific Island nations participating, the benefits are numerous, a few examples follow.
New Business Opportunities and Job Creation: More reliable internet connectivity enables local businesses to expand their reach globally, fostering e-commerce and trade. New business start-ups will be encouraged creating new jobs across the region. This will encourage more young people to remain at home.
E-Learning Access and Teacher Training: Students in remote areas gain access to global educational resources and online learning platforms. Educators can participate in professional development remotely, improving the quality of education delivered locally.
Telemedicine Services and Health Information Sharing: Affordable high-speed internet enables remote medical consultations, diagnostics, and treatment, improving healthcare access in isolated regions. Medical institutions can securely share health data and collaborate more effectively, enhancing public health management.
Communication Resilience: The new submarine cables will provide significantly more reliable communication infrastructure, crucial during natural disasters like cyclones, earthquakes or tsunamis.
Gender and Social Equity: By democratizing internet access, more opportunities arise for historically marginalized groups, promoting equity.
Strengthened Regional Cooperation: Enhanced connectivity fosters trade and collaboration among Pacific Island nations and between the Pacific and other regions. Governments can work together more efficiently on shared challenges such as climate change and sustainable development.
Catalyst for Digital Transformation: Fostering socioeconomic growth and resilience across the region.
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