Gondwana-2/Picot-2

Overview

Gondwana-2/Picot-2 is a regional submarine cable system spanning approximately 1,515 km across the South Pacific. It connects Fiji and New Caledonia, serving the corridor between these two island territories. The system is owned and operated by OPT, the public telecommunications operator of New Caledonia.

Route and Landings

In Fiji, the cable lands at Suva, the country's capital, providing the link between the two territories.

New Caledonia hosts six landing points on the system. These are distributed across the main island and its dependencies: Mont-Dore, Noumea, Tadine, Vao, We, and Yate. This concentration of landings reflects the cable's role in connecting multiple communities across New Caledonia's islands rather than simply bridging the two countries at a single point.

Ownership and Operators

Gondwana-2/Picot-2 is owned solely by OPT (Office des Postes et Télécommunications), the state telecommunications provider of New Caledonia. OPT is responsible for telecommunications infrastructure throughout New Caledonia and its dependencies, and this cable forms part of that domestic and regional network.

Technical Profile

The cable system has a total length of 1,515 km, making it a relatively short regional link tailored to connectivity within and between the two island territories it serves.

Status and Timeline

Gondwana-2/Picot-2 entered service in 2022 and is currently operational.

Regional Context

The Fiji–New Caledonia corridor sits within a broader South Pacific submarine cable network that includes both long-haul intercontinental systems and shorter intra-regional links. Gondwana-2/Picot-2, at 1,515 km, is among the shorter systems in this region; by comparison, cables such as the Southern Cross Cable Network and Southern Cross NEXT span distances many times greater, serving transoceanic connectivity. New Caledonia is also served by Gondwana-1, a predecessor regional cable with a similar footprint, which entered service in 2008. Measured round-trip latency through Gondwana-2/Picot-2 averages 37.9 ms, with a best recorded value of 37.8 ms, consistent with the cable's relatively compact geographic reach.

Strategic Role

By landing at six distinct points across New Caledonia in addition to its Fiji terminus in Suva, Gondwana-2/Picot-2 distributes connectivity across multiple communities on New Caledonia's islands rather than concentrating it at a single gateway. This distributed landing architecture enables more direct access to submarine cable infrastructure for communities in Tadine, Vao, We, Yate, and Mont-Dore, alongside the main hub of Noumea, strengthening intra-territorial as well as bilateral Fiji–New Caledonia connectivity.