Faratea, French Polynesia

Faratea, French Polynesia: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Faratea is a submarine cable landing point located in French Polynesia, a French overseas collectivity spread across the South Pacific Ocean. As an island territory embedded in one of the most geographically dispersed regions on Earth, French Polynesia depends on submarine cable infrastructure to maintain connectivity with the broader Pacific and the wider world. Three submarine cables land at Faratea, making it one of the more active landing points within French Polynesia's cable network.

The cables terminating at Faratea span intercontinental distances and connect French Polynesia to destinations across the Pacific Basin, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Fiji, and Chile. Together, these systems position Faratea as a node in trans-Pacific corridors, linking both the eastern and western Pacific. Two of the three cables—Bulikula and Honomoana—are published systems with a ready-for-service date of 2026, while a third, Halaihai, is a draft system expected to be ready for service in 2027.

Cables Landing at Faratea

Bulikula is a submarine cable system stretching 21,600 km, with a scheduled ready-for-service date of 2026. In addition to Faratea in French Polynesia, the cable connects to Fiji, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States. Its span across the central and western Pacific places Faratea within a broad multi-country corridor linking Melanesia and Micronesia to North America.

Halaihai is a draft submarine cable system measuring 17,483 km, with a projected ready-for-service date of 2027. Alongside its landing at Faratea in French Polynesia, the cable reaches Chile, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. This system introduces a South American endpoint into Faratea's connectivity profile, extending the landing point's reach to the eastern rim of the Pacific.

Honomoana is a published submarine cable system with a length of 15,215 km and a ready-for-service date of 2026. Beyond its landing at Faratea in French Polynesia, Honomoana connects to Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. This cable draws together the southwestern Pacific with North America, adding an Australasian dimension to the set of corridors accessible from Faratea.

Regional Context

Within French Polynesia, Faratea ranks alongside the more connected landing points in the territory. Papenoo leads with four cables, while Faratea's three cables place it above Hitia'a and Vaitape, which each host two cables, and ahead of Arutua, Fakarava, and Hao, each of which serves a single cable. With 23 landing points and eight submarine cables across French Polynesia, Faratea sits in the top tier of the territory's cable infrastructure by cable count.

Network Role

Faratea functions as a multi-cable hub within the French Polynesian and broader Pacific submarine cable graph. Its three systems collectively span routes to seven distinct countries—Australia, Chile, Fiji, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, New Zealand, and the United States—covering both the eastern and western Pacific as well as the southwestern Pacific. This diversity of endpoints means Faratea participates in several distinct trans-Pacific corridors simultaneously rather than serving a single bilateral route.

With two systems entering service in 2026 and a third projected for 2027, Faratea represents a concentration of near-term cable investment in French Polynesia. In the regional submarine cable graph, a landing point that aggregates multiple long-haul systems connecting different quadrants of the Pacific contributes meaningfully to the redundancy and reach of the territory's international connectivity.