Minister for Information and Communications Technology, Peter Tsiamalili Jr, announced the USD $120 million Pukpuk Connectivity Initiative last week.
This is a major bilateral infrastructure program under the Pukpuk Treaty that will deliver three new submarine cables to Papua New Guinea.
The new subsea systems will provide high-capacity connectivity to the Northern part of Papua New Guinea, Southern part of Papua New Guinea and The Autonomous Region of Bougainville, to create a more resilient, multi-route digital backbone for the nation.
Importantly, the minister highlighted that the initiative carries no cost implications to the State, with the full investment being delivered through Australia’s commitments under the Pukpuk Treaty. This ensures that Papua New Guinea receives world-class connectivity infrastructure without drawing on the national budget.
Mr Tsiamalili emphasized that the initiative is a direct implementation of the Pukpuk Treaty, reflecting the shared commitment of Papua New Guinea and Australia to strengthen digital security, regional stability, and national development.
As part of progressing the initiative, Minister Tsiamalili — together with the Australian High Commissioner to PNG HE Ewen McDonald and the United States Ambassador to Papua New Guinea Ann Marie Yastishock — held a high-level engagement earlier this morning with Google Sydney.
The discussions focused on Google’s role as a partner for the submarine cable rollout. Google is a global leader in subsea cable development, and will be laying a cable systems throughout the Indo-Pacific.
The Pukpuk Connectivity Initiative will; Establish three new international-grade subsea routes, reducing reliance on single points of failure, expand access to underserved regions, including Bougainville, improve the stability and quality of national telecommunications and attract investment for hyper-scalers to deploy in PNG.
Mr Tsiamalili stated that the initiative is a defining moment in PNG’s digital development.
“This investment is a major step forward for Papua New Guinea. The Pukpuk Connectivity Initiative lays the foundation for our country’s long-term digital growth and positions PNG to be a regional digital anchor.”