The “Ile de Ré” — the ship that located, recovered and has re-routed the cable to American Samoa and Hawaii, pictured anchored off Fogagogo during the Shore End Landing of the undersea fiber optic cable on Monday, March 23.
[photo: A. Tuna]
The fiber optic cable section connecting American Samoa to Hawai’i, has landed at the Fogagogo site and was connected on land after 2 p.m. Tuesday. The cable line is now being taken to the Ili’ili cable site owned by Blue Sky Communications.
Landing of the cable started at day-break on Tuesday, after the vessel “Ile de Ré” recovered and brought the cable to Tutuila.
Barry Rose, an official with Pac Rim Redeployment LLC, the company developing the fiber optic cable, told Samoa News via e-mail that the company is pleased with the progress of the work so far.
“The project is moving along as scheduled,” Rose said yesterday. “This project and planning have been three years in the making and the execution is being implemented by a highly talented team consisting of off island experts and local contractors.”
Having recovered the cable, Rose said the ‘Ile de Re’ has re-laid the cable offshore at Fogagogo near the airport in American Samoa and landed the first cable (American Samoa to Hawaii) on Tuesday.
“Weather permitting the second cable — American Samoa to Samoa — will be landed March 27. The cable will likely be landed in Apia on March 31. The land cable from the beach manhole to the cable station has been completed at Fogagogo/Iliili. The land cable at Apia will be done around March 28 or 29,” he added.
The landing site in Apia is owned and operated by SamoaTel Limited, the principal fixed and mobile carrier in Samoa. The company will construct the cable station
Rose said the fiber optic cable will be ready for commercial use on April 15. “Based on current timing for the Hawaii extension, the inter-island orders will be implemented first. The ASH (American Samoa to Hawaii) capacity will be connected to the cable in the period prior to April 20,” he added.
