Cable project to improve internet capabilities

THE 4,700km fibre-optic Coral Sea submarine cable project will improve internet capabilities by 100 gigabytes per second, PNG DataCo Ltd general manager for commercial services Une O’ome says.
“What it will provide in terms of the wholesale and off-island capacity into Port Moresby from day one would be 100 gigabytes per second compared to what we have today,” he said.
O’ome said this when asked about the progress of the project in a recent panel discussion in Port Moresby. “It will be much better in comparison to what we have today combining different technologies like settle-lite, the old APNG-2 (Australia Papua New Guinea Two) cable going from Port Moresby to Sydney and what we have going on the PPC-1 (Pipe Pacific Cable One) in Madang,” he said.
“We currently have a total aggregate of 12 gigabytes capacity on our network excluding what others are sourcing.
“The Coral Sea, from day one, will have 100 gigabytes per second in Port Moresby so you can already see that it is almost 10 times what we already have towards December.”
O’ome said when that cable was completed, it would be good for businesses in Port Moresby but the challenge would be to push that out to other centres.
“What will happen is that this cable will land in Port Moresby and if you are a small to medium enterprise (SME), a business or a user in Port Moresby, it will be good for you because you will have access to the retail service providers and services in Port Moresby,” he said.
“The challenge for us is to extend that out to the other parts of the country.
“So it’s not just the Coral Sea cable that we’re targeting.
“The government’s mandate for us is to build a nation-wide national transmission network that will connect all the provincial cities of PNG.”
O’ome added that the Coral Sea cable project was also on track to be delivered by the end of the year.