The Coral Sea Cable has landed in Sydney, Australia after a 4,700km journey. The Cable Ship Ile De Brehat arrived at the landing station at Tamarama Beach in Sydney on Wednesday 28 August 2019, and according to PNG DataCo Limited, the cable connection between Australia, PNG & Solomon Islands is on track to be completed by the end of 2019.
The cable opens up opportunities for faster, more reliable and affordable internet for PNG.
With rapidly increasing use of information communication technology in Papua New Guinea, PNG DataCo has called on relevant stakeholders in PNG to work together to “further improve the internet speed and connectivity in PNG to open door of opportunities to the people of this country”.
Below is an official statement from Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Hon Marise Payne.
28 August 2019: Today’s landing of the Coral Sea telecommunications cable in Sydney marks an important milestone in the continued strengthening of ties between Australia and its Pacific neighbours.
The 4,700 km undersea cable will deliver faster, more affordable and more reliable communications to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
Australia is committed to supporting Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands to grow their economies sustainably, including by bridging the digital divide. Currently only around 11 percent of the population of these countries have access to the internet.
This transformative project will bring significant economic and development benefits by opening new opportunities across a range of sectors.
This includes providing a stronger enabling environment for tech enterprises and entrepreneurs, greater integration into the global marketplace, more opportunity for distance education learning courses and telemedicine training, increased participation of women in IT, and the establishment of e-platforms to enable decentralised government service delivery in provincial locations.
Australia is also supporting improvements to internet regulation and cyber security in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, to ensure the benefits of the cable are fully realised.
The World Bank forecasts that improved internet access and connectivity could bring more than US$5 billion to the Pacific economy and create close to 300,000 new jobs by 2040.
Australia has provided the majority of the funding, with the Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands Governments jointly contributing one third of project costs.
With the Australian landing completed today, the cable laying ship Ile de Brehat will soon return to Solomon Islands to lay a separate 730km submarine cable linking Honiara to the provincial centres of Auki, Noro and Taro.
The Coral Sea Cable System is on track for completion by December 2019.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Hon Marise Payne.