Tanna, Vanuatu

Tanna, Vanuatu: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Tanna is an island in southern Vanuatu and the most populous island of Tafea Province. As a submarine cable landing point, Tanna is set to receive its first direct submarine cable connection with the arrival of the Tamtam cable, scheduled for readiness in 2027. This development places Tanna among a small group of landing points across the Vanuatu archipelago that are building out submarine cable infrastructure to serve their island communities.

The Tamtam cable connects Tanna to New Caledonia and other points within Vanuatu, establishing a regional corridor within the southwestern Pacific. With a length of 411 kilometres, it links Tanna into a broader inter-island and regional network that spans two Pacific island nations.

Cables Landing at Tanna, Vanuatu

Tamtam is a submarine cable system measuring 411 kilometres in length, with a scheduled ready-for-service date of 2027, currently at draft status. The cable connects landing points across Vanuatu and New Caledonia, making it a regional system oriented toward inter-island and bilateral connectivity in the southwestern Pacific. Tanna is one of the Vanuatu landing points on this system, alongside other locations within the country. The cable represents Tanna's entry into the submarine cable network.

Regional Context

Within Vanuatu's four submarine cable landing points, Tanna sits alongside Port Vila, which hosts two cables, and Luganville and Norsup, each of which hosts one cable. Tanna's single-cable profile places it in the same tier as Luganville and Norsup, ranking in the top 75 percent of Vanuatu landing points by cable count. Port Vila remains the most connected landing point in the country by number of cables.

Network Role

Tanna functions as a single-cable terminus, with the Tamtam system providing its sole submarine link. Through Tamtam, Tanna gains direct connectivity to New Caledonia and to other parts of the Vanuatu island chain, enabling both intra-national and bilateral international data transit. The cable's regional scope means Tanna is integrated into a southwestern Pacific corridor rather than a long-haul intercontinental route.

Vanuatu's submarine cable infrastructure spans four landing points across the archipelago, with the first cable in the country having entered service in 2014. Tanna's inclusion in the Tamtam system, once complete, extends that infrastructure further into the southern islands of Vanuatu, broadening the geographic reach of the country's cable network and adding a new node to the regional submarine cable graph shared between Vanuatu and New Caledonia.