Hawaiki Cable signs up US landing site

Hawaiki Cable wants to land its submarine internet cable in Whangarei.

The Auckland-based company planning a second submarine internet cable out of New Zealand hopes to land it in the US state of Oregon and has signed a contract with North American providers.

Hawaiki Cable is planning to build a 14-000km cable system between New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii and the US west coast and says that the project could be operating within two years.

The cable will leave New Zealand at Whangarei and the company announced today it hopes to land the infrastructure near Portland, Oregon.

Hawaiki said it had signed "turnkey contracts with US providers Tillamook Lightwave and CoastCom for key infrastructure and connectivity, including a cable landing station, terrestrial infrastructure, and a new fibre backhaul network that will connect the cable landing station to the city of Hillsboro, near Portland".

"Oregon is the best state on the US West Coast to land a submarine fibre optic cable. The coast is relatively safe and the State permitting process is shorter. Our customers tell us that they like Oregon's diversity and easy access to US networks and data centres," said Hawaiki chief executive Rémi Galasso.

"One of the greatest challenges facing trans-Pacific cable developers is securing a US landing point and associated backhaul...so we're delighted to reach this critical project milestone and sign contracts with Tillamook Lightwave and CoastCom. Both providers are intimate with local regulatory processes and possess expertise that will smooth system deployment," Galasso said.

Last month Hawaiki announced listed-Australian internet provider iiNet intended to buy fibre capacity over the cable.

Local internet provider Voyager - which was founded by Seeby Woodhouse - has also signed up to purchase capacity over the cable during the next 10 years.