Moloka'i, Big Island to get fiber-optic network
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
Sandwich Isles Communications Inc. is preparing to begin construction of new telecommunications systems serving outlying areas of Moloka'i and the Big Island.
The work is part of the company's plan for a $400 million interisland fiber-optic network that will bring telephone service and high-speed Internet access to Department of Hawaiian Home Lands properties on the six major islands.
The project will hook up DHHL's 69 homestead parcels, comprising 200,000 acres, that are leased at low cost for commercial or residential uses.
Construction of 27 miles of underground ducts from Ho'olehua to Kalama'ula on Moloka'i will begin before the end of the month, said Barbara Tanabe, a spokeswoman for Sandwich Isles. The cost of the project is $5 million.
Work will begin next month on the first phase of a $100 million project to install 330 miles of fiber-optic lines on the Big Island, Tanabe said.
The first phase will see installation along a 46-mile route from La'i'opua to Waimea. The route will go along Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway to Kawaihae Road, through Waimea and into the Pu'ukapu homestead area.
At the Kona end, access to the telecommunications network is expected to help the proposed 200-acre Kealakehe Commercial and Industrial Park being planned by the DHHL near Honokohau Harbor.
The second phase, to be conducted early next year, will extend the route from Waimea into Hilo. Plans call for a third phase into Ka'u.
Construction of the $10 million Kaua'i system began in March, linking homesteaders in Anahola and Kekaha.
Eventually, Sandwich Isles Communications will spend $60 million to string 900 miles of undersea cables to connect the land-based lines into a statewide broadband network.
Sandwich Isles President Albert Hee said the company's goal is to provide affordable telecommunications services in remote and underserved areas.
The Hawaiian Homes Commission in 1994 awarded the Honolulu-based company the exclusive right to provide telecommunications services on all DHHL parcels, even though much of the land is undeveloped and lacks roads, water and electricity.
The deal allowed Hee to seek $400 million in low-interest federal loans from the federal Rural Utilities Service, under a program designed to provide telecommunications services to sparsely populated communities that wouldn't otherwise get fiber-optic cable.
Sandwich Isles also recently announced that former Parker Ranch official Riley Smith is joining the company Aug. 1 as project manager for Maui County and the Big Island.
Smith is a former deputy director of public works for Hawai'i County.
