Australian telecom company Vocus Group has finished laying its 4,700-kilometer (2,920-mile) Coral Sea Cable System, a fiber-optic infrastructure project the company is building for the Australian government.
The project is part of an effort to generate more communications infrastructure for Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, according to Data Center.
The company spent the past two months laying and connecting the French-manufactured cable system on the seafloor between Sydney, New Guinea’s Port Moresby and Honiara in the Solomon Islands.
In July, a ceremony was held in the Solomon Islands to mark the beginning of work to lay the cable between Honiara and Sydney. The event featured a symbolic handover of a “golden buoy,” according to Vocus Group.
The cables were connected through a branching unit, which rests 4,650 meters (15,255 feet) deep on the ocean floor. It also hosts 42 repeaters, key pieces of technology used to boost the signal of the cable network, which were placed along the cable length. Some of the repeaters were named after prominent Solomon Islanders, following a public competition that was held in May, according to Vocus Group.
“There is an enormous amount of detailed planning and meticulous delivery that goes into a project of this size, scale and significance,” said Kevin Russell, managing director and CEO of Vocus Group. “Now we are exceptionally proud to have landed the cable in Australia and be another step closer to delivering an important project for the Australian Government.”
The Coral Sea Cable System project also includes a domestic network for the Solomon Islands, consisting of a 730-kilometer (453-mile) fiber optic system that connects Honiara to Auki, Noro and Taro, according to Data Center.
Both of the projects are expected to be completed by December.
