Following successful landings in Kiribati and Nauru, the East Micronesia Cable has landed in Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), its final Pacific nation, with the international telecommunications cable expected to be ready for service (RFS) in November 2025.
The cable lay ship—the Normand Clipper—successfully landed the cable in Kosrae, with the occasion celebrated with an event that marked the formal handover of the Cable Ceremonial Buoy, used to float the cable into shore.
Source: Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific/The cable being pulled to shore in Kosrae
The Honorable Aren B. Palik, Vice President, Governor Kosrae State, Tulensa W. Palik, and FSM Congress Senators, Yoselyn Sigrah and Johnson Asher, marked the occasion, alongside senior representatives from the FSM national and Kosrae state governments, and the project’s funding partners: Australia, Japan, and the United States.
“The East Micronesia Cable will play an essential role in securing FSM’s digital future,” Australia’s Charge to FSM, Sarah McCarthy, said. “Australia is proud to celebrate this milestone alongside our partners and invest in critical infrastructure that meets the priorities of communities across the Pacific.”
The AUD 135-million project is fully grant-funded by Australia, via the AIFFP, alongside Japan and the United States. It will deliver a 2,250-kilometer-long undersea cable and supporting infrastructure connecting Tarawa in Kiribati, Nauru, and the state of Kosrae in FSM to the existing HANTRU-1 cable landing point located in Pohnpei, FSM.
The East Micronesia Cable will bring faster, higher 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.
