Alcatel Signs Turnkey Contract With French Polynesian Operator OPT

Alcatel-Lucent has signed a turnkey contract with French Polynesian operator Office des Postes & Telecommunications, according to which Alcatel-Lucent will roll out a new, high-speed submarine cable network linking Tahiti in French Polynesia to Hawaii in the US, as well as providing domestic connectivity.

This new submarine network, with a value of E72.2 million, has been called Honotua and is expected to increase French Polynesia’s local and international connectivity.

Delivering a capacity of 32 x10 Gbit/s, the Honotua network will be composed of an international link between Tahiti and Hawaii (4,650km) and a domestic connection (305km)linking some of the islands in the French Polynesian archipelago. The Honotua submarine cable network is scheduled for completion in 2010.

Jean-Paul Barral, chairman of the board of Office des Postes & Telecommunications (OPT), said: “The adoption rates of data services are growing fast, as well as end-users’ needs for bandwidth, reliability and service delivery speeds. With its recognized experience, Alcatel-Lucent is a trusted technology partner as we take a new step in our communication capabilities to meet these new service demands reliably and at affordable costs.”