Coral Sea Cable System Complete
Faster, more affordable and reliable communications infrastructure is now available to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, with construction of the 4,700km Coral Sea Cable System and 730km Solomon Islands Domestic Network now complete.
It is anticipated that the Coral Sea Cable System will bring significant economic and development opportunities for PNG and Solomon Islands. Customers are expected to be able to access services in early 2020.
Speaking at an event celebrating the completion of the project at Parliament House in Canberra, Foreign Minister and Minister for Women the Hon. Marise Payne said the project would have a transformative impact across a range of sectors in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, including government services, e-commerce, global markets, education and health.
“In the visits I’ve had recently in PNG and Solomon Islands, I have met people in business, small business and micro business, whose capacity to do what they do is also going to be transformed. The change is going to have an enormous impact,” said Minister Payne.
“We are enormously excited about this project coming to fruition – we are enormously excited about its potential, and we look forward to seeing it grow and grow into the future.”
Responsible for the design and delivery of the Coral Sea Cable System project, Vocus Managing Director and CEO, Kevin Russell said the company was incredibly proud to partner with the Australian Government on such an important project.
“The completion of the project is a fantastic milestone and caps off almost two years of hard work,” Mr Russell said.
Both the Coral Sea Cable System and Solomon Islands Domestic Network are majority grant financed by Australia.
Celebrating the completion of the Coral Sea Cable Project (from left) Mr Walter Diamana, Acting High Commissioner for Solomon Islands, Mr John Kali, High Commissioner for Papua New Guinea, and Senator Hon Marise Payne, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women. (Credit: Nathan Fulton/DFAT)
Senator Hon Marise Payne, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, speaking at the Coral Sea Cable photo exhibition at Parliament House, to mark the completion of the project. (Credit: Nathan Fulton/DFAT)
A photographic exhibition celebrating the completion of the Coral Sea Cable System and Solomon Islands Domestic Network was held in December 2019 at Parliament House in Canberra. Showcasing important milestones in the project, the photos capture the magnitude of this infrastructure project, as well as the energy and enthusiasm amongst stakeholders in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands around the cable’s potential. (Credit: Nathan Fulton/DFAT)