Underwater sea cable
Everything you need to know
The Coral Seas Cable System – the undersea fibreoptic cable to be laid between Sydney, Australia, and PNG, and then to the Solomon Islands – will transform telecommunications in the two Pacific countries. Here, we answer key questions about this keenly anticipated project.
Q: What is the state of the current cable between Papua New Guinea and Australia?
A: Cables generally have a life span of 25 years. The current connection is coming to the end of its useful life. It would not be able to meet the demand predicted for the next 25 years.
Q: When will the new cable be up and running?
A: The 40 tbps (terabits per second) cable system is expected to be finished and operational by December. The cable will have four fibre pairs, about the width of a human hair each. PNG and Solomon Islands will get will get 20 tbps capacity each.
Q: How will it change capacity?
A: The cable has a technical maximum capacity of 10 terabytes per second, which is about 1000 times current capacity.
Q: What is the cost?
A: It has been valued at PGK324 million.
Q: What are the stages of construction?
A: A marine survey will define the precise route of the cable. Terrestrial construction will take place, including building the cable landing stations to connect it to domestic infrastructure in PNG and the Solomon Islands. The cable will be manufactured in Calais, France, then shipped and installed towards the end of the year. Q: Where will it be connected in PNG? A: The landing site will be Kila Kila in Port Moresby. The undersea cable will be dragged up to the shore and connected to a cable station on top of the cliff. Q: Which organisations will be involved? A: State-owned PNG DataCo and its parent, Kumul Telikom, will be involved on the PNG side. Vocus Group has been selected to manage the delivery. The work to build and lay the cable has been subcontracted to Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, while Telstra will provide the facility on the Australian mainland. Vocus has form: it built a 2100-kilometre cable to connect Darwin to Port Hedland, and is working on a 4600-kilometre cable to connect Perth with Jakarta and Singapore.