East Micronesia Cable lands in second Pacific location of Nauru

The East Micronesia Cable landed in Nauru on 9 August, following a successful landing in July in Kiribati. The international telecommunications cable is 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 Nauru landing site from the cable lay ship, with a large buoy. Acting President, the Hon. Jesse Jeremiah, The Hon. Shadlog Bernicke, M.P. Minister for Information, Communication and Technology and Hon. Charmaine Eraidinomo Scotty, M.P. Minister for Health attended the event, alongside funding   partner representatives from Australia, Japan and the United States, Nauru government officials, and children from Nauru Primary School. 

Australia’s Acting High Commissioner to Nauru, Mr Stephen Close attended the major milestone alongside Ambassador of Japan, His Excellency Rokuichiro Michii, and US Embassy Fiji First Secretary, Kelly Busby. Mr Close remarked that the cable landing is not just about technology, but about the generations of Nauruans who will benefit from it. 

Nauru Primary School students toured the Cable Landing Station and are excited for the enhanced opportunities for their online learning due to improved internet access. 

The AUD135 million project is funded by Australia, with a grant of up to AUD65 million via the AIFFP, alongside Japan and the United States. It will deliver a 2,250-kilometre-long undersea cable and supporting infrastructure connecting Tarawa in Kiribati, Nauru and the state of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to the existing HANTRU-1 cable landing point located in Pohnpei, FSM.

The East Micronesia Cable will bring faster, high quality and more reliable and affordable internet to more than 100,000 people across the three Pacific countries, providing better access to services, information and worldwide markets.

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.

A third Ceremonial Buoy event to mark the final cable landing in Kosrae, FSM will be held in the coming weeks, with the cable expected to be ready for service in November 2025.

Australia is proud to invest in essential infrastructure that meets the priorities of Pacific communities and supports better connectivity within and across Pacific nations.