2nd undersea cable to Palau delayed to 2025

The completion of Palau’s second subsea cable is scheduled for 2025. The Meta-led Echo cable is expected to provide the nation with increased reliable, secure digital connectivity in Palau and improved access to government services and promoting remote health and education programs.

Palau officials said while they hope to push the project forward, it’s a private company laying the cable. The completion date of the spur connecting the Echo cable to Palau was delayed from end of 2024 to first quarter of 2025. The operational date of the spur has been scheduled for the first quarter of 2025 and there’s no word on whether that has been pushed back.

Map of undersea cable 2 that connects to Palau. Courtesy BSCC.

The 17,000-kilometer cable is being built in partnership with Google and XL Axiata. It links the U.S. to Indonesia and Singapore via Guam and Palau. The landing site has been built in Ngardmau and is owned by the Belau Submarine Cable Corporation. BSCC officials said the delay to Palau is the due to delays in the main cable.

The $30 million spur to Palau is being funded with efforts from Australia, Japan, and the US under the Trilateral Partnership for Infrastructure Investment in the Indo-Pacific, as well as Palau.

Palau’s first subsea cable, the 15,000 km SEA-US – the 200km Palau branch is known as Palau Cable 1 (PC1) - was laid in 2017 and connects the US to the Philippines and Indonesia. It is owned by a consortium of GTA TeleGuam, Globe Telecom, Hawaiian Telcom, RTI, and Telin. The Palau spur was partly paid for via loans from the Asian Development Bank. That cable lands in Ngeremlengui. mbj

2nd undersea cable to Palau delayed to 2025