Funded by France, the SMART TAMTAM submarine cable is a submarine cable project that will link New Caledonia to Vanuatu. The cable will have environmental sensors that will enable a real-time monitoring of oceanic and seismic risks which in turn will increase protection (from earthquakes and tsunamis) for the 650,000 people living in this particular part of the region, hence the title ‘SMART’. The cable will be the second to supply global bandwidth to Vanuatu, providing backup in the case of a disruption to the existing sub-sea cable that connects Vanuatu and Fiji (ICN1).

The cable will stretch 375 kilometers between Port Vila (Vanuatu) and Lifou Island (New Caledonia), with a branch of the cable connecting Tanna for uninterrupted connectivity to Vanuatu’s southern islands. The cable will be the property of the local company known as Interchange Limited with a local company known as Prima in Vanuatu that will maintain the cable in Vanuatu. Other parties supporting this project include the government of Vanuatu, and New Caledonia’s telecom company known as OPT (Office des Postes et Telecommunications).