Biak, Indonesia

Biak, Indonesia: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, an Indonesian province situated northwest of New Guinea. As part of Indonesia's extensive submarine cable network, Biak serves as a landing point for submarine cable infrastructure connecting this eastern region of the archipelago. One submarine cable lands at Biak, linking it into the broader domestic connectivity framework of Indonesia.

The single cable serving Biak operates as a domestic connection, linking Biak to other points within Indonesia rather than to international destinations. This positions the landing point as part of the intra-archipelago cable infrastructure that supports connectivity across Indonesia's many islands and regions.

Cables Landing at Biak

SMPCS Packet-2 is the submarine cable landing at Biak. Spanning 3,498 kilometres, the cable reached ready-for-service status in 2015 and carries a draft status designation. All endpoints on the SMPCS Packet-2 cable are located within Indonesia, making it an entirely domestic submarine cable system. At 3,498 kilometres, it runs considerably longer than the average submarine cable landing in Indonesia, which stands at 2,814 kilometres, reflecting the geographic distances involved in connecting remote Indonesian island territories such as Biak to the rest of the archipelago.

Regional Context

Within Indonesia's submarine cable landscape, which encompasses 70 cables across 139 landing points, Biak ranks among the more modestly connected locations, hosting a single cable and placing it in the top 62 percent of Indonesian landing points by cable count. Major Indonesian landing points such as Batam, with 20 cables, and Jakarta and Tanjung Pakis, each with 9 cables, serve as far larger connectivity hubs. Eastern Indonesian landing points such as Manado and Makassar, with 8 and 6 cables respectively, also host considerably denser cable infrastructure than Biak.

Network Role

Biak functions as a single-cable terminus within the Indonesian domestic submarine cable network. The SMPCS Packet-2 system connects Biak to other Indonesian landing points across a considerable distance, enabling intra-archipelago connectivity for this eastern Papua region. As a landing point served exclusively by a domestic cable system, Biak's role is oriented toward bridging remote island geography within the national network rather than providing international or intercontinental connections.

Within the Indonesian submarine cable graph, Biak represents one of many eastern archipelago landing points that depend on domestic cable systems to maintain connectivity across the vast distances separating Papua and surrounding island groups from the country's more densely connected western hubs.