Samoa Submarine Cable Company (S.S.C.C.) broke ground for the start-up of construction of landing station for Tui-Samoa subsea cable at Vaivase-Tai.
Further to the start-up of construction, the company also informed about partnership agreement with Southern Cross Networks.
According to the local media, the government has, through Submarine Cable Company, announced the start of negotiations to host a spur of the 12,500km Southern Cross NEXT project.
The Southern Cross NEXT project is designed to interconnect with the existing Southern Cross systems, as well as existing 15 cable station and data-centre locations across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and the US West Coast.
The initial Southern Cross NEXT will provide connectivity between Sydney, Auckland, and Los Angeles, with the link to Samoa.
The ground-breaking ceremony, along with the partnership agreement announcement represents Samoa’s intention to become the region’s connectivity hub.
“This is an important step towards positioning Samoa as a submarine cable hub in the region and will further enhance the prospects of winning the rights to also land the Pacific Connectivity Project submarine cable from Tahiti at this cable landing station,” said deputy prime minister Fiame Mataafa Naomi .
Pepe Fia’ailetoa Christian Fruean , chairperson of Samoa Submarine Cable Company added: “S.S.C.C. is fully supportive of governments plans to position Samoa as a hub for the region and Southern Cross is an extraordinary partner who will help deliver that vision.”