OPT New Caledonia building new subsea cable system

OPT New Caledonia has selected Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) to build and deploy its second submarine cable.

Specifically for this project, ASN will partner with Orange Marine and Axians.

Orange Marine will be responsible for the deep-sea survey and submarine cable installation.

It will link all New Caledonians and provide connectivity to Loyalty Islands and the Isle of Pines.

Axians will be in charge of environmental studies, shallow water surveys, shore-end to the 8 landing stations, as well as civil works for all stations along with land cable pulling.

The international part of the system will deploy between New Caledonia and Fiji.

This will bring the territory closer to its South Pacific neighbours.

Furthermore, it will enable New Caledonia to play a role in the region’s digital development.

According to ASN, the subsea cable system should be in service in early 2022.