New internet cable gets to Alotau

By CLARISSA MOI
DataCo Limited has completed system 2 of the new Kumul submarine cable network with the other end now at Alotau.
The cable is being laid from Port Moresby to Madang via Alotau, Popondetta and Lae, says managing director Paul Komboi.
This is part of the national transmission network project (NTN).
There are two phases and three systems for the Kumul submarine cable network.
“The project commenced at the end of 2017 and system 2 of phase one is now completed,” Komboi said. “System 1 and system 3 are expected to be completed in December.” He said they were driving all project components in parallel for all three systems.
General manager engineering Tony Morisause said traffic is currently on system 2.
“We’ve loaded all the Port Moresby internet traffic that is on the Tiare internet gateway,” he said.
“On February 19, we started loading traffic onto the submarine cable. It’s almost two weeks and we have very good and stable traffic flow in the system.
“We call our traffic flow ‘sunrise’ and ‘sunset’, meaning gradual rise and gradual setting in terms of the rise from off-peak to peak hours.
“We didn’t experience that when we were using the microwave radio systems.
“There is a great difference and also the experience in the last two weeks speaks for itself.
“We have commissioned it and are now burning it up in terms of testing. Then we will prepare to go onto the other systems.
“System 1 is between Madang and Jayapura, via Wewak and Vanimo, and between Madang and all the island regional provincial capitals of Lorengau, Kavieng, Kokopo, Kimbe and Arawa.
“System 3 is between Port Moresby, Kerema and Daru via the LNG fibre cable.
“System 3 is going to follow immediately after we lay system 1.
“The loading of the cables for system 3 will be the last ones underneath the tank of the ship.
“When they roll out system 1, they will basically turn the ship this way and complete the Port Moresby to Daru.
“By the time we finish, we’ll have at least 15 landing stations including Jayapura, in operation for the country.” Morisause said the whole system for the Kumul submarine cable network was planned to be completed by the end of this year, including system 2.
General manager commercial, Une O’Ome said pricing was currently a topic of discussion and they would be announcing their new wholesale pricing at the launch of system 2 this month.
“The wholesale services and products of wholesale internet and point-to-point (P2P) services provided over this submarine cable network, and our exiting terrestrial fibre network in the Highlands region, would assist retail service providers to provide services with improved availability and speeds and with better pricing through PNG,” he said.
“It is also envisioned that Government would also benefit from this NTN on how services
are delivered to the people in various sectors like education and health.”