Metlakatla, BC, Canada

Metlakatla, BC, Canada: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Metlakatla is a small Tsimshian community situated at Metlakatla Pass near Prince Rupert, on the northwestern coast of British Columbia, Canada. As a coastal settlement, it serves as a landing point for one submarine cable, connecting it to Canada's broader network of coastal and regional submarine cable infrastructure. The single cable landing here operates entirely within Canadian waters, enabling domestic regional connectivity rather than international or intercontinental links.

The cable serving Metlakatla is the Connected Coast system, a domestic Canadian network designed to bring improved submarine cable access to underserved coastal and remote communities in British Columbia. This positions Metlakatla as one of several small British Columbia communities connected through the same system, representing an effort to extend submarine cable reach along the province's rugged northern coastline.

Cables Landing at Metlakatla, BC, Canada

Connected Coast is a domestic submarine cable with a Ready for Service (RFS) date of 2024 (draft status). The cable connects communities exclusively within Canada, serving multiple coastal landing points along British Columbia and beyond. It does not extend to any foreign country. As a regional Canadian system, Connected Coast is designed to serve remote and coastal communities that would otherwise lack direct submarine cable access, and Metlakatla is one of the stops along its route.

Regional Context

Within Canada's submarine cable landscape, Metlakatla ranks among the single-cable landing points, alongside Addenbroke Island, BC, while larger Canadian hubs such as Halifax, Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Kangiqsujuaq, and Puvirnituq each host two cables. Canada's submarine cable infrastructure spans 21 cables across 155 landing points, and Metlakatla's hosting of one cable places it in the top 97 percent of Canadian landing points by cable count. Among British Columbia landing points specifically, Metlakatla sits alongside Addenbroke Island as a Connected Coast terminus, while Prince Rupert and Vancouver serve as more heavily connected nodes in the provincial network.

Network Role

Metlakatla functions as a single-cable terminus on the Connected Coast system, contributing to a domestic Canadian corridor that links remote and coastal British Columbia communities via submarine cable. Rather than serving as a hub for multiple systems or as a gateway to international routes, its role is focused on extending regional connectivity within Canada's Pacific northwest coastal geography. The proximity of Metlakatla to Prince Rupert, itself a two-cable landing point, situates this community within a cluster of northwestern British Columbia nodes that together form a locally concentrated segment of Canada's coastal cable map.

As one of the newer additions to Canada's submarine cable infrastructure — with Connected Coast carrying a 2024 RFS date — Metlakatla represents the continued expansion of domestic submarine cable reach into smaller communities. Its place in the regional submarine cable graph illustrates how single-cable landing points in remote areas contribute to broadening the overall distribution of Canada's coastal connectivity network.