Fintel Secures Landing of Sub-sea Cable Gondwana-2

By Telecompaper
April 4, 2019

Fiji International Telecommunications (Fintel) has announced it has secured landing of the sub-sea cable Gondwana-2. Securing the internet requires the installation of a second submarine cable that will be added to Gondwana1, which links Nouméa to Sydney since 2008. To this end, a call for tenders for the security of New Caledonia by international and domestic submarine cables was launched on 30 March this year. This public tender follows the recommendations of the telecommunications sector report conducted in 2018 by the Government of New Caledonia and presented to the OPT-NC on March, with the choice of an international cable to Fiji.

The OPT-NC's board of directors validated to secure New Caledonia's international connections by building a second cable connected to Fiji, thus enabling the Office to launch an open tender to meet this need. OPT-NC's Board of Directors is thus in line with the recommendations of the telecommunications sector study conducted by the Government of New Caledonia, which advocates a regional approach with objectives such as boosting the regional digital landscape; and the development of the economic attractiveness of New Caledonia and the regional territories.

The OPT-NC wants to finance this project, to rely on a scheme integrating a contribution in own funds (self-financing), a loan with specific organizations, a call for the metropolitan tax exemption, and, lastly, a recourse to the metropolitan or European subsidies, in the context of digital development and territorial continuity. The total cost of the project is now estimated at around CFP 4.5 billion.

The OPT-NC is committed to the “Fiber optics for all” plan to deliver, guarantee and secure the accessibility of very high speed for all through the following programs: the very high speed mobile program; the very high-speed fixed (fiber optic) program; the densification and security program of the optical loop transport network (maritime and terrestrial backbones); the security program of New Caledonia.