Submarine Cable Project to result in Faster, Cheaper Internet in Samoa

The Government of Samoa, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, and the Government of Australia launched the Savai'i component of a new $57.4 million submarine cable system in February 2017.

The 1,300km cable will deliver affordable high-speed Internet access to Samoa by linking the country's largest islands, Upolu and Savai'i, to the Southern Cross Cable Network in Suva, Fiji and to the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands via a spur.

The project aims to deliver low-cost broadband services to Samoa and strengthen the regulatory and legal environment for information and communications technology. The submarine cable project is expected to deliver Samoa a wide range of improvements to public services, including an e-health patient information system to improve patient care within the Samoan health system, as well as significant benefits to education, business, tourism, agriculture, as well as disaster planning and response. The cable is expected to reach land in Apia and Savai’i in early 2018.

“High-speed internet is essential to improving the lives of ordinary Samoan people. The government of Samoa is working hard to position our nation as a submarine cable hub for the Pacific — we look forward to realizing this vision with the private sector, and the support of development partners.”
— Afamasaga Rico Tupa’i, Samoa’s Minister for Communications & Information Technology

Enhancing connectivity and driving broadband prices down are key objectives of ESCAP's Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS), a member-driven initiative to improve regional broadband connectivity through a dense web of open access cross-border infrastructure.

This article appeared on Sattelite PR News