Page 32 - IB JAN 2019

Business Intelligence - PACIFIC

Cooks joins Manatua cable the Asian Development Bank (ADB) via
a loan and a New Zealand Government
grant funding.
RAROTONGA, Cook Islands - The three fibres while the one to Aitutaki will The name Manatua is derived from
government has signed a contract for have one fibre. Sites for connection in the the Manatua Consortium—a partner-
the construction of a new undersea Cook Islands will be determined over the ship between Office des post et télécom-
fibre-optic cable. next few months, with TE SubCom making munications, the telecommunications
Cook Islands is part of a consortium initial site visits this month. operator of French Polynesia; Telecom
with Samoa, Tahiti, and Niue Limited; Samoa Sub-
Niue, and the Manatua marine Cable Company,
cable will provide high- the cable operator of the
speed internet connectiv- independent state of Sa-
ity to all four countries moa; and Avaroa Cable
by the middle of 2020. Limited (ACL), the cable
In a media statement, operator of the Cook Is-
the Cook Islands Invest- lands.
ment Corporation said ACL was established
the Manatua cable will in March 2017 as a state-
be built and laid by TE owned entity, wholly
SubCom, an undersea owned by the Cook Is-
communications tech- lands Investment Corpo-
nology company based ration. Its aim is to enable
in the United States. access to cheaper, faster,
“The Manatua cable and more reliable internet
system will provide reli- to the Cook Islands. A
able, high-capacity con- new telecommunications
nectivity to the South bill is being developed to
Pacific,” said Thomas enable these objectives to
Sorensen, managing di- Underground cable installation in Rarotonga. Pboto: Dreamtime.com be met.
rector of Oceania and “Manatua will enhance
maintenance strategy at SubCom. The cable will service Aitutaki and significantly the international commu-
“The cable will strengthen the con- Rarotonga and satellites will continue to nications connectivity for our communi-
nections between islands and create service the rest of the islands. TE Subcom ties at reasonable and affordable costs,”
a reliable information pipeline to help have been on Rarotonga and Aitutaki this said Jean-François Martin, chairman
further connect the South Pacific to the week surveying potential landing sites of the management committee for Ma-
world.” where the cable may come ashore. Further natua Consortium.
Covering 3,166kms in total, it will discussions with stakeholders and work “This is a further step for our coun-
provide connections from Apia, Samoa will be conducted in the coming months tries … to improve access to information
to Toahotu, Tahiti, with branches con- to prepare for the landing and installation and services that are migrating to digital
necting to Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Niue, of the cable in late 2019. formats.”
and Vaitape in Bora Bora. The Cook Islands’ contribution to the The cable is expected to be fully
The branch to Rarotonga will have cable’s construction is being co-funded by operational by May 2020.

APIA, Samoa - The challenge of keep- TARAWA, Kiribati - Air Kiribati is to able to operate nonstop flights between
ing Samoa’s electricity running without significantly grow its fleet with the acqui- Tarawa and Kiritimati (Christmas) Island,
interruption comes with a cost. This was sition of two Embraer E190-E2 jets for a domestic flight which currently requires
highlighted by the Electric Power Corpora- delivery this year. Embraer announced an international stopover in Fiji.
tion Chief Executive Officer, Tologata Tile recently that the Government of Kiribati
Tuimaleali’ifano, in an interview after has signed a contract for two E2s with APIA, Samoa - Samoa Airways chairman
the commissioning of a WST5.39 million purchase rights on an additional two Fe’esago Siaosi Fepulea’i has expressed
(USD2.06m) 200 Kilowatt Hydro Power aircraft. If the two purchase rights are ex- confidence in the financial state of the
plant at Vailoa Palauli. He said Samoa is ercised, the deal would be worth US$243 airline. The Samoa Government is yet to
advanced in the region, in terms of renew- million at list prices. The orders follow release the annual report of the airline’s
able energy and the use of solar-charged a visit by Embraer’s E2 demonstrator to performance in the last 12 months, but
batteries to store electricity, which would the Kiribati capital of Tarawa in October that did not trouble Fe’esago, as they
automatically go on when the system during a three-week Asia Pacific sales prepare to become the first airline in the
detects a shortfall in the grid.“Variable tour. “We were impressed with what we Pacific to use a Boeing 737-Max 9 aircraft.
renewable sources – mainly solar for us saw when the E190-E2 visited Kiribati,” “We are financially stable to proceed with
because when a cloud covers the panel – said Willie Tokataake, Kiribati’s Minister the leasing of the Boeing 737-Max 9
the output from the solar plant drops, and for Information, Communication, Trans- aircraft. We can afford it. We wouldn’t be
that challenge was addressed by applying port and Tourism Development. The E2’s going into this if we did not have sufficient
batteries to store the energy. 2,850nm range means the airline will be funds,” he told the Samoa Observer news-

32 Islands Business, January 2019