Majuro, Marshall Islands: The laying of a new submarine fiber optic cable from the Marshall Islands to Guam starts this month, and by April 2010 will give this remote western Pacific nation access to 21st century communications technology.

 The challenge, says the government’s monopoly telecommunications company, is an antiquated domestic distribution system that will be costly to upgrade to deliver broadband access.

“Everything we do from here on is history in the making,” said National Telecommunications Authority general manager Tony Muller, who recently signed an agreement with Tata Communications of India to access its facilities in Guam for placement and maintenance of the communications cable and associated equipment.

“We’ll be introducing a business plan to our board at next month’s meeting regarding rates and speeds for the new cable,” Mr Muller said.

“A lot of people expect drastic drops in rates, but they forget we now have a second loan to pay off. We’re looking at quadrupling speeds at the same rates.” Marshall Islands Internet dialup users pay $1.80 per hour, one of the highest prices in the region.

The cable is costing the Marshall Islands $21 million. The U.S. Army, which operates a high-tech missile testing range at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands and is the driving force behind the cable, is investing $100 million. A branch will also link Pohnpei, in the Federated States of Micronesia, to the cable.

Tyco Telecommunications’ high-tech cable laying ship is scheduled to arrive in Majuro on December 18 to launch the three-month, approximately 2000-mile cable laying work.

“It’s been an eight-year roller coaster ride to get here,”

Mr Muller said of the off-again, on-again cable plan that was first floated by the U.S. Army in the early 2000s. “So it’s only fitting that we will dedicate the cable on April Fool’s Day (April 1) next year.”

The telecom must get its domestic distribution system upgraded to handle the high-tech cable when it comes on line in April.

“Distribution is one of our biggest challenges,” Mr Muller acknowledged. The reason for this is that underground copper cable phone lines in Majuro are aging.