BW Digital and Telin join forces to build Hawaiki Nui 1 submarine cable system and boost connectivity around Indonesia and Australia

BW Digital and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin) announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the joint development and construction of Hawaiki Nui 1 submarine cable system. The MoU was signed in Washington DC during International Telecoms Week 2024 on 14 May 2024.

It follows the announcement in early March this year of a partnership between BW Digital and Citramas Group to establish a world-class digital ecosystem out of the Nongsa Digital Park in Batam, Indonesia, the centrepiece of which will be an 80MW data centre servicing businesses, governments and communities throughout the country and broader region.

Hawaiki Nui 1 is the first stage of BW Digital submarine cable development programme. With a design capacity of more than 240 Tbps, it will link Australia, Indonesia and Singapore, and include optional branches to the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste.

Estimated to span some 10,000 km, Hawaiki Nui 1 will chart a new, more efficient route northeast of Australia via the Torres Strait, providing greater connectivity, diversity and security between Australasia and South-East Asia. It will also provide the first direct cable link between Sydney and Darwin, and from Darwin to Singapore, with branches to Jakarta and Batam.

Under the partnership agreement, BW Digital and Telin will work together to develop, procure and build Hawaiki Nui 1, which is expected to be ready for service (RFS) in 2027. Telin will also act as the Indonesian landing party for the cable.

"BW Digital is pleased to forge a strategic alliance with Telin to deliver Hawaiki Nui 1 submarine cable and serve the ever-growing capacity requirements between Australia, Indonesia and Singapore," said Ludovic Hutier, Chief Executive Officer of BW Digital.

Hawaiki Nui 1 will support the development of our digital ecosystem in Batam's Nongsa Digital Park and coupled with the existing Hawaiki cable - linking Sydney, Auckland and the US West Coast since 2018 - offer unparalleled connectivity to customers operating in the Asia-Pacific region.

Budi Satria Dharma Purba, Chief Executive Officer of Telin, remarked: "In today's digital landscape, the Asia Pacific region emerges as the epicenter of data center telecommunications traffic growth. Over the next five years, there is a healthy growth in Data Center Capacity across Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Through our partnership with BW Digital and as part of our overall 7 systems of ICE subsea cable, we aim to bridge the connectivity gap between Data Centers across these nations and shape the future of the Asia Pacific Subsea Landscape."