ONATi Picks Ciena, Intelia to Drive Connectivity in French Polynesia

French Polynesian telecom operator ONATi, a subsidiary of the OPT French Polynesia Group, has selected Intelia and Ciena to increase the capacity of the Honotua international submarine cable to 300Gb/s.

The last stage of operations was successfully carried out in October 2022 thanks to the engagement and expertise of the ONATi, Intelia and Ciena teams.

The Honotua international cable was upgraded using Ciena’s GeoMesh Solution powered by the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and WaveLogic Ai technology providing 300Gb/s of information-carrying capacity on a cable system supporting an upgrade path to 5Tb/s of total capacity to rapidly address future growth.

The Honotua international cable is a 4,500km submarine communication system that interconnects several islands of French Polynesia from Tahiti to Hawaii. The Honotua international cable system was deployed in 2009, and it is owned and operated by the OPT French Polynesia Group to supply connectivity to more than 220,000 mobile subscribers, 45,000 fixed internet customers and 16,000 audio-visual multimedia users.

The local expertise of the integrator Intelia and operator teams combined with Ciena’s innovative technology and unparalleled submarine network experience were critical to ensure the connectivity requirements for the Honotua international cable system.

“This turnkey project is an important milestone for boosting French Polynesia international connectivity and we are proud ONATi has collaborated with Intelia and Ciena to implement it,” said Romain Dhalluin, CEO, Intelia.

“Through the collaboration with ONATi and Intelia, we’ve increased the capacity of the Honotua international submarine cable to 300Gb/s, creating a super-fast digital highway that addresses the connectivity needs of French Polynesia,” said Matthew Vesperman, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Ciena.

Intelia is a 15-year-old telecom system integrator serving the operators of the South Pacific Region. Intelia’s model is integrating thanks to its local offices/teams/capabilities IT and telco solutions of the best providers in each market segment. Intelia has been partnering with Ciena for the pacific islands since 2018.

OPT Group of French Polynesia is a government-owned company with 5 main subsidiaries. ONATi operates and delivers fixed line infrastructure and audio-visual services, is the Internet Service provider and the mobile operator; Tahiti Nui Telecoms former international operator is still hosting equipment such as satellites Teleport, Honotua and Natitua cable landing stations and now focusing on Data centers and services, sells computers and provides IT services; Fare Rata provides postal services; Marara Payment provides banking and financial services; Pacific Cash Services ensures cash transport management.

With its 87 agencies spread on a surface as large as Europe, OPT French Polynesia Group delivers services to all inhabited islands.