18 Dec 2017

ADB supporting Cooks in submarine cable project

3:07 pm on 18 December 2017

The Asian Development Bank has provided a $US15 million dollar loan towards the Cook Islands submarine cable project.

ERDF (Electricity Network Distribution France) and Louis Dreyfus company install an electric submarine cable and optical fiber between Quiberon and Belle-Ile-en-mer, western France, in 2015.

Photo: AFP

The Cook Islands has joined Samoa, Niue, and French Polynesia to implement a regional cable system - Manatua - to have provide faster and more affordable internet.

The total cost of the project, which is also supported by New Zealand, France and the EU, is estimated at $US65 million dollars.

The Banks Pacific director, Emma Veve, says 'improved access to high-speed, affordable broadband internet in the Cook Islands will positively impact the tourism and public sectors as they are, by far, the biggest internet users"

The Cook Islands finance minister, Mark Brown says the Manatua cable will definitely result in opportunities through improved telecommunications connectivity.