In a bid to provide high internet connectivity the Government will install a dedicated submarine cable between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

Yesterday the government signed an agreement with telecommunications companies for the Savusavu to Suva underwater cable system.

While signing the agreement, Communications Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says with the setting up of this cable Fijians will have faster internet connectivity of speeds up to 100 gigabytes per second.

Sayed-Khaiyum says currently Fiji uses the microwave linkages speeds which has a speed of 2 gigabytes per second and is sometimes unreliable.

The Minister says the submarine cable will also have the ability to expand to 8 terabytes per second in the future.

“It is very critical for us to be able to ensure that we have Vanua Levu participate in the economic development and also provide services to the people living in Vanua Levu. We will also encourage businesses with high internet speeds. This has the potential to actually unleash a particular opportunity that did not exist in Vanua Levu. This is part and parcel of what we are doing. The signing commemorates the fact that we have the telecom companies that will be contributing to the usage of the cable.”

The total cost of the project is $7.457 million of which $5.95 million has been borrowed from the World Bank and $1.5 million has been given by government.