Ever been to Vanuatu ? Neither have the majority of the area’s inhabitants — particularly people who simply can’t function off the grid. For ages, the island archipelago has trusted sluggish, unpredictable satellite connections for eBay bids and liveblog following, but it surely looks like fares to the blossoming nation are about to move even further north. Around this time next year, the Pacific Island destination might be connected to the real internet, because of an undersea optical fiber backbone cable linking it to nearby Fiji. Interchange and Alcatel-Lucent could be working to put and operate the 1,230 kilometer cable system, with a view to “link directly into the high capacity Southern Cross Cable between Sydney and Hawaii.” At the beginning, the system would be equipped to deal with 20Gbis/sec — a figure that dwarfs the rustic’s current capacity by 200x. In time, that ought to creep as much as 320Gbit/sec, enabling your future vacation videos to hit YouTube in record time. Total cost? $30 million, or a drop within the bucket when compared with the commercial boom that’s certain to transpire.
Pacific Island’s Vanuatu to sign up for the area’s optical fibre Internet backboneParis, April 14, 2011 – Interchange Limited, a Vanuatu based company, and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) have signed a landmark agreement to deploy Vanuatu’s first international submarine cable system linking Port Vila, Vanuatu, to Suva, Fiji. Scheduled for completion in mid 2012, this new system will deliver faster, more efficient and price-effective Internet connectivity to the pacific island nation, while removing the present dependence on satellite and strengthening Vanuatu’s competitive position as an e-business hub.
Interchange will construct, own, and operate the 1230 kilometre submarine cable system, that allows you to link directly into the high capacity Southern Cross Cable between Sydney and Hawaii enabling Vanuatu businesses to connect with global telecommunications highway via USA, Australia, Asia and Europe.
Initially equipped for 20 Gbit/s data transfer, that’s over 200 times Vanuatu’s current capacity, the hot submarine cable system is designed with an ultimate capacity of as much as 320 Gbit/s to support the ongoing growth of Vanuatu’s e-business economy well into the long run. Its deployment increases internet speeds for brand new and existing Internet Service Providers and deliver the lower price capacity that Vanuatu must encourage economic growth and support its burgeoning tourist industry.
Interchange CEO, Simon Fletcher said: “This submarine cable will open new growth opportunities for the local economy. Vanuatu’s current satellite connectivity is comparatively expensive, with high latency and is capacity constrained. Interchange believes telecommunications infrastructure, via submarine cable systems, is the cheapest and reliable means to bring high bandwidth capacity and technologies to Vanuatu facilitating growth in tourism and other industries.”
“Projects like Vanuatu are further proof of the will for connectivity to increase high-speed communications in area which are still unserved or currently counting on satellite connections,” said Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks SAS. “Submarine cable networks provide a price-effective and direct operational method to accelerate penetration of broadband access, while prepare for reliably supporting new applications consisting of data centre interconnections through the years.”
At a value of USD $30 million, the submarine cable project is essentially funded by the personal sector. But the Government of Vanuatu has shown strong support for telecommunications infrastructure project with Vanuatu Post coming forward as a seed investor in Interchange Limited. The Vanuatu Government has also committed to the pre-purchase of capacity to improve the utility of the e-government network by extending it internationally.
Vanuatu will now join Fiji, PNG, Samoa, American Samoa, New Caledonia and French Polynesia as smaller South Pacific Island countries that have a submarine cable.
Interchange Limited has secured an option with ASN for the extension of the system from Vanuatu to Noumea. This extension would enable connectivity for brand spanking new Caledonia to Fiji besides providing Vanuatu with diverse cable outlets. The choice can afford the good thing about an integrated solution reducing the price in comparison with a separate standalone implementation. Such an extension would further enhance the network security for both New Caledonia and Vanuatu. This greater certainty of continued operation will equip Vanuatu to use its position as a pivotal location for e-business and knowledge centres within the Pacific. Additionally the extension cable can run in close proximity to Tanna offering the opportunity of a cable connection between Vila and Tanna.
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