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NEW DELHI: Huawei Marine said that it has signed a contract with the Solomon Island Submarine Cable Company (SISCC) to construct the first submarine cable in the Solomon Islands.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, Minister of Finance and Treasury Snyder Rini, Minister of Communications and Aviation Peter Shanel, CEO of SISCC Keir Preedy and President of Huawei’s South Pacific Region Wei Chengmin attended the signing ceremony in Honiara.
The Solomon Islands is a nation encompassing six major islands and over nine hundred smaller islands lying to the northeast of Australia. Due to its geographical location the Solomon Islands have long depended on satellites for telecommunications, which are unstable, expensive and have proven unable to provide sufficient bandwidth for the country. In 2016, the Solomon Islands’ Government founded the SISCC, with the remit to develop a submarine cable to connect its main islands, with onward connectivity to Australia.
Huawei Marine, in conjunction with parent company Huawei Technologies will design and construct a network that incorporates 4000km of submarine cable with a total capacity of 2.5TB that will link Sydney to the capital Honiara, with a further domestic connection from Honiara to Auki and Noro.
“We’ve been planning this submarine cable for nearly seven years,” said Keir Preedy, CEO of SISCC.
“Thanks to our partners Huawei Marine and Huawei Technologies for providing solutions to make it possible. I believe the completion of this cable will solve problems we are facing now -insufficient bandwidth, high cost, and unstable services. It will provide high-quality telecommunication services to carriers in South Pacific region, and more importantly, it will deliver high-speed internet and telecommunication services in Solomon Islands," he added.
Mike Constable, Chief Executive of Huawei Marine said: “Submarine cable networks form the cornerstone of economic development for island nations. Huawei Marine has continuously invested in the South Pacific region since it was founded ten years ago. The deployment of this international network provides a further milestone in our contribution to the region following on from our recent contract award to develop similar infrastructure in Papua New Guinea.”
The system will be ready for service in 2018.