Honotua Cable Enables High-speed Internet Offers in Tahiti

According to news from Tahiti Presse, new high-speed internet services have been officially launched in French Polynesia on 1 September 2010. These new offers are possible thanks to the Honotua cable, a fiber optic multi-media communications cable linking Tahiti, French Polynesia to Hawaii.

Teva Rohfritsch, minister of economic restructuring, in charge of the digital economy, said the new offers are a great step forward for Tahitian internet users.

The new offers called "no limit" will make using internet in Tahiti easier and faster with lower prices too, Rohfritsch announced.

The offers are launched by Mana, the only internet provider today in French Polynesia and a subsidiary of the government-owned OPT (Office des Postes et Télécommunications).

These new offers are possible thanks to Honotua, a fiber optic multi-media communications cable linking French Polynesia to Hawaii.

The final mile of the Honotua submarine cable was installed on the Big Island of Hawaii last March.

Rohfritsch acknowledged the fact the cable still only has a temporary authorization so far from FCC (Federal Communications Commission) in the United States.

The matter is in fact still being discussed with officials in Washington, DC.

But Rohfritsch said is confident all the administrative process will be over by the end of the year.

"It is only a matter of a few weeks or days", Rohfritsch told reporters.

The government claims the Honotua project will turn French Polynesia in the long run into a "digital heaven".

International call centers for instance, for European companies, could well be created in Tahiti thanks to Honotua.

Honotua is a 3,107-mile (5,000-km) submarine fiber optic cable linking French Polynesia with Hawaii. The cable's biggest depth is 19,500 feet (5,944 meters).

The Honotua cable is a five-year-old project with an overall 9.5 billion French Pacific franc (US$110.5m/€796m) cost.