Telkom Indonesia said the cable system directly connects Jayapura in Indonesia’s Papua province with Vanimo in Papua New Guinea and is the first cross-border cable system in the Asia-Pacific region to directly connect Indonesia’s telecommunications network with Papua New Guinea.

The government-owned telecommunication company said the landing station in Jayapura operated by its international arm Telin serves as a connectivity gateway to Papua New Guinea’s Kumul Telkom Holdings, delivering capacity from the international SEA-US cable system to remote provinces in Papua New Guinea via Vanimo.

“With the operation of the cable system, Jayapura now has two independent international connectivity routes.

“The first route connects Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua, while the second route connects Vanimo in Papua New Guinea to Jayapura and onwards to Manado and Los Angeles in the United States through the SEA-US cable,” it said, according to ANTARA News Agency, on Saturday.

The cable system was inaugurated on Friday at Telkom Witel Jayapura in Papua by Indonesia’s communication and digital affairs deputy minister Angga Raka Prabowo, together with Telkom Indonesia president director Dian Siswarini and other Indonesian and Papua New Guinean officials.

Telkom said the project also strengthens digital infrastructure resilience in Papua by providing an alternative “diversity route” to help ensure telecommunications services remain operational and reliable.