East Micronesia Cable lands in first Pacific location of Kiribati

Attendees at the Cable Lay Ceremony:  Australia’s Special Envoy for the Pacific, His Excellency Ewen McDonald,  the President of Kiribati, His Excellency Taneti Maamau, Senior Development Advisor, U.S. Embassy, Suva, Mr Michael Glees and Charge d'Affaires ad interim of Japan to the Republic of Kiribati, Mr. Suzuki Hideyuki

Cable lay vessel Normand Clipper laying the cable to Tarawa Cable Landing Station

The East Micronesia Cable landed in Tarawa, Kiribati on 26 July 2025 with the international telecommunications cable 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 Tarawa landing site, from the cable lay ship, with a large Ceremonial Buoy. The President of Kiribati, His Excellency Taneti Maamau, alongside Kiribati Minister for information, Communications and Transport, Hon. Alexander Teabo, hosted the occasion alongside senior representatives from the Kiribati government and the project’s partner governments.

In attendance at the major milestone was Australia’s Special Envoy for the Pacific, His Excellency Ewen McDonald,  Australia’s High Commissioner to Kiribati, Mr Mark Foxe, Charge d'Affaires ad interim of Japan to the Republic of Kiribati, Mr. Suzuki Hideyuki and Senior Development Advisor, U.S. Embassy, Suva, Mr Michael Glees.

The AUD135 million East Micronesia Cable 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 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.

Ceremonial Buoy events to mark the cable landings in Nauru and Kosrae in FSM will be held in the coming weeks, with the cable expected to be ready for service in November 2025.

CEO BwebwerikiNET (BNL)  Ioane Koroivuki and NEC official holding Tarawa Ceremonial Buoy

Unloading cable and repeater during cable lay from the Normand Clipper