East Micronesia Cable landing in second Pacific location of Nauru celebrated with Ceremonial Buoy event
Nauru and Development Partner representatives celebrating formal landing of cable in Nauru
The East Micronesia Cable has landed in Nauru, following July’s successful landing in Tarawa, Kiribati. The international telecommunications cable is now just months away from being ready for service.
The occasion was celebrated with an event which marked the floating in of the cable to the Nauru landing site from the cable lay ship with a large buoy. Acting President of Nauru, Hon Jesse Jeremiah, Minister for Information, Communication and Technology Hon Shadlog Bernicke and Minister for Health Hon Charmaine Scotty, celebrated the event alongside funding partner representatives from Australia, Japan and the US, Nauru government officials and children from Nauru Primary School.
Australia’s Acting High Commissioner to Nauru, Mr Stephen Close attended the major milestone alongside the Ambassador of Japan HE Rokuichiro Michii and US Embassy Fiji First Secretary and Political Economic Chief, Kelly Busby.
NEC representative and Nauru Fiber Cable Corporation representative Mr Alvin Kumar
Mr Close remarked that the cable landing is not just about technology, but about the generations of Nauruans who will benefit from it.
The AUD135 million project is funded by Australia, Japan and the United States and will deliver a 2,250-kilometre-long undersea cable and supporting infrastructure connecting Tarawa in Kiribati, Nauru and the state of Kosrae in FSM to the existing HANTRU-1 cable landing point located in Pohnpei, FSM
The East Micronesia Cable will bring faster, high quality and more reliable and affordable internet to more than 100,000 people across the three Pacific countries, providing better access to services, information and worldwide markets.
The project will improve the availability of digital government services and enable increased trade and employment opportunities. It will also strengthen the countries’ resilience to climate change, assisting governments with disaster and climate change preparedness and reducing the chances of an outage in the event of adverse weather events.
A third Ceremonial Buoy event to mark the final cable landing in Kosrae, FSM will be held in coming weeks, with the cable expected to be ready for service in November 2025.
Project representative Mr Adam Williams with local children and teachers inside the Cable Landing Station