An agreement that involves the U.S. Army, and telecommunications companies of the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia was signed earlier this year after six years of on-and-off negotiations. The cable contracts are worth more than $130 million.
Tyco Telecommunications (US) Inc. will begin laying the cable in November, working from the Marshall Islands to Guam.
“We’re doing civil work now,” Marshall Islands National Telecommunications Authority General Manager Tony Muller said Thursday.
“We’re building a cable station next to our generator room and putting in a trench to the ocean side beach (the start point for the cable).”
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell, who commands the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, described the fiber optic cable as the “critical enabler” to transform the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll to meet the U.S.’s changing space and missile defense needs.
“Currently, all communications into and out of U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll/Reagan are satellite based, resulting in bandwidth limitations and time lag issues,” Campbell said.
With the fiber cable, Kwajalein will have access to almost limitless high-speed, immediate communications ability.
The fiber cable “allows the transmission and reception of large amounts of information in near real-time,” he said.
Majuro leaders see numerous opportunities developing.
“This is what we really need considering the fact the Marshall Islands is disconnected from the rest of the world by large bodies of water,” said Carlos Dominick, chief executive officer of a Majuro construction company.
Health officials say they will be able to use broadband access to improve diagnosis and treatment of patients through “real time” consultations with specialist doctors in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The actual cable laying work is expected to begin in November, with the cable starting from Majuro.
It will link Majuro, Kwajalein and Pohnpei with Guam, offering broadband communications capability to an area that now faces bottlenecks from satellite communication.
“The vessel will be here in November,” Muller said.
“The plan is to have outside plant facilities in place before the cable vessel arrives towards the end of this year,” he said, adding “so far, we’re on track.”
The new cable is supposed to be operational by April 2010.
