Google's Honomoana cable to get a 30 Tbps branch to Auckland, in partnership with Vocus

Google's Pacific Connect cable system will be extended to include New Zealand, with the Honomoana route getting a spur to Auckland in partnership with Vocus.

Honomoana is one of two Pacific Connect cables, architected as a ring for redundancy, to be routed between the United States West Coast, French Polynesia and Australia. Vocus said the branch to Auckland will provide as much as 30 terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity initially between Australia and New Zealand.

Vocus' agreement with Google gives the Australian network backbone operator the option to acquire further capacity on the Pacific Connect system.

A double Australian cable landing in Melbourne and Sydney is also on the cards, providing a new domestic route between the two cities. It also provides the first diverse route across the Tasman, Vocus said. 

Vocus chief executive Elle Sweeney said the Pacific Connect system "will significantly uplift in trans-Tasman data capacity with the new Auckland landing" and give the backbone provider's customers increased network capacity and redundancy across three continents.

SubCom is the cable laying contractor for Pacific Connect, which is expected to be ready for service in 2026.

Pacific Connect could be extended to further economies in Oceania, as it will have pre-positioned branching units for additional connections on the cables.

Presently, Pacific Connect runs between the US, Hawaii, Fiji and Australia with the Tabua cable, on top of Honomoana which is routed further south. Tabua and Honomoana also connect to each other between French Polynesia and Fiji.

The number of laid and announced subsea cables in the Pacific Ocean has grown greatly the last few years, with for instance Intelia announcing the Te Waipounamu cable in February, connecting the South Island to Australia. Southern Cross Cable System has also expanded capacity in the region by adding the NEXT circuit.