Hawaiki Cable picks Hawaiian Telcom to provide landing station

Hawaiki Cable Ltd., the New Zealand owner and developer of the Hawaiki submarine cable system, has selected Hawaiian Telcom Services Co., Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Hawaiian Telcom Holdco, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCOM), as its landing partner in Hawaii.

As part of its system architecture, Hawaiki will land its proposed 14,000-km transpacific undersea cable from Australia and New Zealand to the US West Coast in Oahu, Hawaii.

Under the letter of intent signed by both parties, Hawaiian Telcom will provide Hawaiki with turnkey infrastructure and connectivity, including a cable landing station and terrestrial infrastructure in Makaha, Oahu. Hawaiian Telcom will also be responsible for all permitting activities in Hawaii.

Oahu is a strategic hub for traffic diversity in the North Pacific region and presented the best opportunity to interconnect with other submarine network systems, according to Remi Galasso, chief executive officer of Hawaiki Cable.

"We have great expectations for our Hawaii landing station and took our time to select the best partner. As the leading communications provider in Hawaii, Hawaiian Telcom has a deep understanding of the local regulatory process as well as the knowledge and expertise to deliver a truly open access cable landing station that will offer a wide range of domestic backhaul solutions to Hawaiki's customers," he said.

"The Hawaiki submarine cable system offers additional broadband capacity from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific to our state, which will strengthen our collective efforts to meet the growing global demand for increased bandwidth," said Eric K. Yeaman, Hawaiian Telcom's president and CEO. "As an experienced provider of cable landing station services, Hawaiian Telcom is pleased to have the opportunity to play a strong, supporting role in this endeavour that will help meet the transpacific capacity needs of the people and businesses of Hawaii for many years to come."

With all four landing points finalized, including Sydney in Australia, Whangarei in New Zealand, Pacific City in Oregon, and Oahu in Hawaii, Hawaiki will now start process for obtaining the necessary permits in each of the respective countries.

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