BW Digital has extended its Hawaiki subsea cable to Tonga.

The company this week announced the successful landing of the Hawaiki Tonga cable in Vava’u. Work is now underway to prepare the system for commercial service in the coming months.

“The arrival of the 383-kilometer cable represents a major boost to Tonga’s connectivity resilience, helping to reduce the risk of international outages while enabling more secure and reliable telecommunications,” BW said in a post announcing the landing. “It also supports the country’s goals for digitalization and economic growth.”

BW first announced plans to add a 338km branch to the Hawaiki cable in summer 2024. The cable was originally expected to be operational by late 2025.

The project is jointly funded by Australia, through the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific, and the Government of New Zealand. It has been delivered in partnership with the Government of Tonga and Tonga Cable Ltd.

Launched in 2018, the Hawaiki cable currently spans 14,000km with landing points in Sydney, Australia; Mangawhai, New Zealand; Pago Pago, American Samoa; and Oregon and Hawaii in the US.

Tonga is home to one other international cable - the Tonga cable - which connects the country to Fiji. It is owned by a consortium of Digicel Tonga, the Government of Tonga, and the Tonga Communications Corporation.

Tonga suffered major connectivity disruptions in the wake of the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai undersea volcano eruption.

Repairs on the Tonga Cable took more than a month, with multiple faults and breaks along some 50km. Tonga’s domestic cable also underwent repair some 18 months after the event.

BW Digital owns and operates the Hawaiki subsea cable, after acquiring Hawaiki in May 2022. The Hawaiki cable is separate from the Hawaiki Nui cable, which is set to be operational in 2027.