Vocus, Australia’s specialist fibre and network solutions provider, has been selected as Google’s preferred partner to deliver a new submarine cable system connecting Australia to the United States via the South Pacific – uplifting the reliability and resilience of digital infrastructure for both Australia and the region.

The South Pacific Connect initiative will deliver a subsea cable ring connecting three diverse Australian landings to Fiji and French Polynesia, both of which will then connect directly onto the United States via diverse paths. It also includes pre-installed branching units across the system to enable other Pacific nations to connect in future.

The new cables between Australia and the US will be named Honomoana and Tabua: Honomoana, named after the Polynesian word for “link” (hono) and “ocean” (moana), will connect the United States and Australia to French Polynesia. Tabua, named after a sacred Fijian whale’s tooth, will connect the United States and Australia to Fiji. French Polynesia and Fiji will also be directly connected with an interlink cable to establish a network loop.

“Submarine cables are the superhighways of the global internet, carrying more than 97% of internet traffic around the world,” said Vocus CEO Ellie Sweeney. “These cables are critical digital infrastructure – we depend on them for the online applications we use every day, from banking and Government services to social media and streaming video.”

“Vocus is delighted to be Google’s preferred partner to deliver the South Pacific Connect initiative, which will significantly uplift the capacity, reliability, and resilience of Australia’s international connectivity. The system will establish three diverse Australian landings along with dual cable paths to the US, substantially improving the resilience of Australia’s critical connections to the world,” she said.

The South Pacific Connect system also uplifts the digital resilience of our Pacific neighbours, establishing a ring between Australia, Fiji, and French Polynesia with diverse cable landing stations at each point and diverse onward connections to the US.

“Few Pacific Island nations have access to modern, competitive cable infrastructure – the South Pacific Connect initiative will provide much-needed capacity and redundancy throughout the Pacific, as well as delivering new diverse, high-capacity routes between Australia and the US,” Ms Sweeney said.

Vocus owns and operates several submarine cables connecting Australia’s North and West to Asia, including the 4,600km Australia Singapore Cable (ASC) from Perth to Singapore, the 2,100km North West Cable System (NWCS) currently being extended to Timor Leste, and Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable (DJSC) system providing a direct route from Darwin to Singapore via Port Hedland, Christmas Island, and Indonesia. Vocus also delivered the Coral Sea Cable System (CS2) for the Australian Government, connecting Sydney to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.