Southern Cross Cables has announced multiple deals for use of its Next subsea cable, including a major capacity commitment by FINTEL, Fiji’s International Gateway provider and wholesale telecommunications company.
Other major deals announced by Southern Cross include confirmation by Teletok, the Tokelau (NZ dependent territory) telecommunications service provider, that it will connect to the cable, and that Pacific island country, Kiribati, will also connect to the subsea cable.
Significantly for Fiji, the connection of FINTEL to the Southern Cross NEXT cable will continue the nation’s long and distinguished history in connection with international submarine cables across the Pacific (since 1902). The new cable will provide additional diverse paths and capacity from Fiji to the world, reinforcing Fiji as a major telecommunications hub in the Pacific.
FINTEL CEO, George Samisoni, said “Our customers throughout Fiji and the Pacific region will be able to rely on FINTEL for international connectivity to internet and telecommunications services. The flexibility that Southern Cross Cables have offered us ensures our customers will receive the lowest possible round trip latency from Fiji to Australia and the US, supported by similar low latency restoration paths.”
{loadposition peter}In the case of Teletok, the small island country’s international capacity requirements are growing rapidly due to increased demand from both fixed and mobile broadband capabilities across Tokelau, and are anticipated to further increase as greater connectivity is achieved throughout the islands.
Southern Cross says its NEXT cable solves a major piece of the international bandwidth puzzle for Teletok for the next 20 plus years.
Teletok CEO, Tealofi Enosa, said “Our customers throughout Tokelau rely on Teletok for international connectivity to internet and telecommunications services, and our commitment to the Southern Cross NEXT project will allow us to efficiently continue to service their growing needs. The flexibility that Southern Cross Cables have offered us ensures our customers will receive low latency connectivity from Tokelau to Australia and the US, and ensure we have the highest level of online response times.
Kiribati will connect to the Southern Cross NEXT subsea cable to provide low latency and fast connectivity from Kiritimati to Australia and the United States of America.
Southern Cross Cable CEO, Anthony Briscoe, and Chairman of BwebwerikiNET, the new Government of Kiribati state-owned enterprise, Riteti Maniraka, said the cable connection for Kiribati was a landmark milestone, connecting it to Australia, New Zealand and the US, as well as a number of other Pacific Islands.