The Bulikula submarine cable connects Guam, The Marianas islands, Hawaii, Fiji and the French Polynesia (PF)..

Bulikula is the Fijian word for “golden cowrie,” a rare shell found in the Pacific Ocean often worn by local chieftains as a badge of rank.

In January 2024, Google announced Central Pacific Connect initiative to build two new intra-Pacific cables — Bulikula and Halaihai — connecting Guam with Fuji and French Polynesia respectively.

Google's Central Pacific Connect initiative is originated from the Central Pacific Cable project, which demonstrates a strategic initiative of the United States to connect various Pacific islands and boost the U.S.’s interests in the Pacific region, where it competes for influence with China.

Google partners with Telstra, APTelecom, and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) on the Bulikula submarine cable system and the Central Pacific Connect initiative. 

Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited (ATH) was incorporated as a public company in March 1998, as a vehicle through which the Fiji government's investments in the telecommunications sector was consolidated for the purpose of privatisation under its public sector reform programme. 

Telstra owns and operates a fibre pair on the core trunk on the Bulikula cable connecting Guam and Fiji. 

In October 2024, PNG DataCo Limited announced a collaboration with Google to enhance digital connectivity in the Pacific Island nation as well as in the Pacific region through the Pacific Connect initiative. This collaboration enables a branching unit toward Manus, Papua New Guinea on Bulikula, a subsea cable that will connect Guam and Fiji.

In November 2024, Google announced the Tuvalu Vaka cable, a new subsea cable branch off Bulikula and the very first subsea cable connection to Tuvalu, a small independent nation in the South Pacific. Google collaborated with Tuvalu and Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation on the Tuvalu Vaka cable, landed in Funafuti, the capital of Tuvalu, in the mid of December 2024.

In November 2024, Google filed a submarine cable license application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to construct, land and operate a private fiber optic submarine system known as BULIKULA, connecting Guam, The Marianas islands, Hawaii, Fiji and the French Polynesia.

The Bulikula cabele system will be privately owned and controlled by Starfish Infrastructure Inc. (Starfish), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Google LLC. Both Google and Starfish are incorporated in Delaware, the United States.

Bulikula will be the first system to directly connect Guam to Fiji and the French Polynesia, and will also be the first system to directly connect the Marianas to Hawaii, Fiji, and the French Polynesia.

Bulikula is designed with two landing points in both Fiji, and the French Polynesia. Dual landings provide landing path diversity, effectively providing redundancy in island connectivity in case of a single branch failure.

This design also provides improved powering resiliency by increasing the number of single-end-feeding capable configurations in the overall system, providing better tolerance to shunt faults and thus better overall availability for the connectivity supported by the system.

The Bulikula cabele system is designed with 16 fiber pairs and a minimum design capacity of approximately 16 Tbps per fiber pairs using current technology, including the following segments:

• Tahiti Nui, the French Polynesia to BU1: 16 fiber pairs, 55 km, to interconnect with Google's Honomoana cable system at Tahiti Nui CLS;
• BU1 to Tahiti Iti, the French Polynesia: 16 fiber pairs, 70 km, to interconnect with Google's Honomoana cable system at Tahiti Iti CLS;
• BU1 to BU2: 16 fiber pairs, 4,100 km;
• BU2 to Suva, Fiji: 16 fiber pairs, 270 km, to interconnect with Google's Tabua cable system at Suva CLS;
• BU2 to BU3: 16 fiber pairs, 20 km;
• BU3 ro Natadola, Fiji: 16 fiber pairs, 90 km, to interconnect with Google's Tabua cable system at Natadola CLS;
• BU3 to BU4: 16 fiber pairs, 5,500 km;
• BU4 to Piti, Guam: 16 fiber pairs, 100 km;
• BU4 to BU5: 16 fiber pairs, 20 km;
• BU5 to Tinian, CNMI: 16 fiber pairs, 230 km, to interconnect with Google's TPU / Proa cable systems at Natadola CLS;
• BU5 to BU6:  16 fiber pairs, 6,500 km;
• BU6 to BU7:  16 fiber pairs, 20 km;
• BU7 to Oahu, Hawaii: 16 fiber pairs, 245 km, to interconnect with Google's Tabua cable system at Natadola CLS;
• BU7 to BU8: 16 fiber pairs, 4,300 km;
• BU8 to Tahiti Iti, the French Polynesia: 16 fiber pairs, 80km.
• Additional Branching Units
  The Bulikula system will also include four additional branching units on the segment between BU3 and BU4 (labeled BU3a - BU3d).
  
  Currently, there are specific plans to use one of these branching units (BU3a) to connect to a cable system that will be owned and operated separately from the Bulikula system. The separate system will have four fiber pairs that land in the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu.
  
  The separate system, called Tuvalu Vaka, will be owned and operated by Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation, which will obtain onward connectivity to Suva, Fiji, via an individually-negotiated indefeasible rights of use (“IRU”) for dark fiber on the Bulikula system.

Google intends to install and test the Bulikula system in US waters in the second quarter of 2026 and commence commercial operation of the US landing point of the system in the third quarter of 2026.