Hawaiian Telcom recently invested $1.5 million to complete a fiber ring in East Hawaii that increases the reliability of the company’s backbone system on Hawaii Island.
According to the Hawaiian Telcom, crews closed an approximately 25-mile fiber gap between Volcano and Pahala, completing another ring in the company’s network.
Voice and data traffic can now be re-routed if a section of the fiber ring is damaged, minimizing potential service disruptions, Hawaiian Telcom said. The additional fiber also enhances the company’s ability to expand broadband service to underserved communities in East Hawaii.
“This completed fiber ring provides route diversity to more than half of Hawaii Island, including the districts of Puna, Ka‘u, South Kona, and Kailua-Kona,” Dan Masutomi, director of strategic business development for Hawaiian Telcom, said in a press release. “It skyrockets the network reliability of our backbone system to 99.999%.
“In the event of a natural disaster such as the November to December 2022 Mauna Loa eruption that threatened our infrastructure, we can utilize this new fiber path to avoid or minimize service disruptions on Hawaii Island,” Masutomi added.
Closing the fiber ring was a costly endeavor, according to Hawaiian Telcom, primarily due to the location of the gap which went through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Environmental assessments and securing multiple permits, traffic control, tree trimming, and coordination with other entities were required.