Tonga Gains New Transpacific Link With Landing of Hawaiki Tonga Subsea Cable
By Telecom Review Asia
March 23, 2026
Digital infrastructure operator BW Digital confirmed the 383-km cable has landed and now connects Tonga to the Hawaiki Cable, linking Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Oregon on the U.S. West Coast, with branching connectivity to American Samoa and New Caledonia.
The Hawaiki Tonga cable project, launched in June 2024, was jointly funded by Australia through the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) and the Government of New Zealand. BW Digital delivered the system in partnership with the Government of Tonga and Tonga Cable Limited.
BW Digital said work is underway to prepare the cable for commercial service in the coming months.
The system represents Tonga’s second international subsea cable and its first direct connection to a transpacific backbone cable system. Until now, the country relied solely on the Tonga Cable to Fiji for international capacity.
Limited redundancy has previously exposed Tonga to major connectivity disruptions. In January 2022, the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano damaged both the Tonga Cable and the Tonga Domestic Cable Extension (TDCE), which links Tongatapu and Vava’u. The TDCE sustained further damage in 2024 following an earthquake.
The new cable is expected to improve service reliability, expand international bandwidth capacity, and support Tonga’s long-term digital development.
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