19 Dec 2015

Samoa govt opens tender for fiber optic cable

7:07 pm on 19 December 2015

Samoa's government has opened bidding for the contract to lay an undersea fiber optic cable to connect to the Southern Cross broadband network.

The cable will connect Savai'i to Fiji, where it will link with the main cable between Hawai'i and Sydney, Australia.

The government says it hopes to have a contractor signed by May next year, and the nearby French territory of Wallis and Futuna has also expressed an interest in connecting.

This would be the second fiber optic cable to Samoa, with telecommunications company Blue Sky's creating the Moana cable between New Zealand and Hawai'i, via Samoa.