SINGAPORE: The United States is backing a new undersea internet cable connecting several Pacific islands, according to a plan for the project seen by Reuters, boosting Washington’s interests in a region where it is vying for influence with China.
The Central Pacific Cable would connect American Samoa with Guam – two US territories – and extend to up to 12 more Pacific islands, according to a document showing the cable route. Guam is home to a key US military base.
Details of the cable were displayed at an industry conference in Singapore by the developers, Paul McCann and John Hibbard, two veteran subsea cable consultants. APTelecom, a US-based telecoms consultancy, is carrying out the feasibility study. APTelecom, Hibbard and McCann declined to comment.
The new cable could connect the US territories with Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu, Fiji, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna and the Federated States of Micronesia, the plan showed.
Further funding for the project would most likely come from multilateral donors such as the World Bank and aid agencies in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the plan said.
Undersea internet cables typically take at least three to five years to be developed and installed. The proposed cable would stretch thousands of kilometres.
A White House fact sheet released on Monday (Sep 25) after a meeting between Pacific Island leaders and President Joe Biden in Washington confirmed the US Trade and Development Agency would fund a US$3 million feasibility study for the cable. The statement didn’t state the countries involved.
This would be the first undersea cable connecting Tuvalu, a tiny nation of about 11,000 people, the USTDA said in a post on its Facebook page.