ADB to help fund second Subsea Cable
January 12, 2025 10:33 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook
Local tech company Prima Limited and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a debt-plus-grant mandate agreement to help fund the ‘Tamtam’ cable, which will be Vanuatu’s second subsea fibre optic cable.
The cable will connect Port Vila through Lifou, New Caledonia, supplying global bandwidth to Vanuatu and providing vital backup in the case of a disruption to the existing subsea cable that connects Vanuatu through Fiji (ICN1). New Caledonia currently has subsea cable connectivity through Australia and Fiji.
“We are delighted that the Tamtam cable is becoming a reality for Vanuatu,” said Prima Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Simon Fletcher. “In keeping up with world standards, and especially in light of Vanuatu’s susceptibility to natural disaster, it’s extremely important for us to have redundancy in place.
“The second cable will grow local technology capability and advance Vanuatu’s place in the global ICT industry, diversifying the economy and making the country more attractive to investors and customers in emerging sectors such as data storage.”
As part of the United Nations-led Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) Subsea Cables initiative, the Tamtam cable will be equipped with innovative sensors that can provide insights into the state of the ocean to monitor climate change, including ocean heat content, circulation and sea level rise, which may provide early warning for earthquakes and tsunamis, and monitor seismic activity for earth structure and related hazards.
As with ICN1 in 2013, French company Alcatel are contracted to carry out the marine cable deployment and connection, with the cable expected to be completed and operational by the end of 2026.
The ADB credit committee has approved the financing facility for the cable, subject to final approval by the board. Overall funding for the project will total USD 26.8 million.
Prima is a local tech company responsible for managing the operations of the existing subsea cable (ICN1). The Tamtam cable will be owned and operated by Prima.
