The document discusses Hawaii's reliance on aging undersea fiber optic cables for internet connectivity. Two of Hawaii's three cables connecting the islands are over 25 years old, nearing the end of their lifespan. The third and newest cable, laid in 2007, is owned by a company undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, casting uncertainty over its future. Previous task force recommendations emphasized the importance of submarine cables and promoting the landing of new transpacific cables in Hawaii to ensure reliable, high-speed connectivity. However, recent projects are bypassing Hawaii, risking a loss of cable capacity by 2025 without action.

1. THE UNSEEN HAND
An Introduction to the Conspiratorial View of History
By A. Ralph Epperson
<https://www.maier-files.com/the-unseen-hand/>
In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, it was planned that way.
If harmful events are planned, it follows that the people who were about to suffer through the
scheduled event would act to prevent the event from occurring if they knew about it in
advance. The people expect government to protect them from harmful events. But if the events
still occur after the government officials had been expected to prevent them, the government
officials have failed in their assigned duties. There are only two explanations as to why they
failed:
 The events overwhelmed them, and could not have been prevented; or
 The events were allowed to occur because the officials wanted them to occur.
______________________________________________________________________
GOVERNOR DAVID IGE
February 22, 2021
“A critical part of re-programming our economy is the creation of a healthy statewide
broadband network. During the pandemic, the importance of broadband to everything that we
do was made all too real. All of us dramatically increased online activities, such as online
learning, telework, telehealth, and workforce training”.
______________________________________________________________________
HAWAII'S BROADBAND NETWORK
INTER-ISLAND FIBER OPTIC NETWORK
TRANS-PACIFIC FIBER OPTIC NETWORKS
INTER-ISLAND NETWORK
HAWAII'S INTERNET RELIES ON INCREASINGLY TENUOUS UNDERSEA CABLES
Two of the three cables connecting the islands are old, and now one of them is the subject of a bankruptcy court hearing
By Allan Parachini, Honolulu Civil Beat, June 1, 2020
<https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/06/hawaiis-internet-relies-on-increasingly-tenuous-undersea-connections/>
Two of the three cables that Hawaii relies on to keep data flowing are nearing the end of their
useful lives. The third is newer, but its ownership is tied up in a bankruptcy proceeding
scheduled for a hearing Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Honolulu, casting uncertainty
over its future operations.
Hawaii's data life depends on a largely antiquated system of three underwater cables. They all
connect with Oahu and bounce outward to the other islands. Many businesses statewide rely
on uninterrupted internet access to transmit and receive countless daily business transactions.
The three cables include the one owned by Paniolo, the company whose assets are in the
process of being sold by a bankruptcy court in Honolulu. Paniolo’s cable is fairly new, laid in
2007.

2. The two others are close to 25 years old — toward the end of their service lives, though cable
experts say there is no magic in that number. They were installed in the mid-1990s.
Ken Hughes, 'Ike Tek Soluutions, Kapaa, Kauai
“It's all about speed in the future. With everyone home instead of at work, capacity has
moved. If you don't have the superhighway that's paved and not full of potholes, wherever the
pothole is, you've got to slow down. It all comes back to the fiber.”
TRANS-PACIFIC FIBER OPTIC NETWORK
HB821 HD2 SD1
Introduced 1/24/2019 – 3/21/2019 Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1)
Referred to WAM, now designated FIN (Finance)
Representative Sylvia Luke Chairs the House Finance Committee (FIN)
<https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/Archives/measure_indiv_Archives.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=821&year=2019>
Measure Title: RELATING TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
Report Title: Hawaii Technology Development Corporation; Public-private Partnership; Open
Access; Hawaii Broadband Initiative; Carrier Neutral Cable Landing Station;
Appropriation ($)
Description: Requires the Hawaii technology development corporation to seek to establish a
public-private partnership to plan, build, and manage key strategic broadband
infrastructure and attract cloud based companies to Hawaii. Makes an
appropriation for the Hawaii broadband initiative and to establish an open access,
carrier neutral cable landing station. Takes effect 7/1/2112. (SD1)
Companion:
Package: None
Current Referral: Finance (FIN) [Previously Ways & Means (WAM)]
Introducers: Angus L.K. McKelvey, Mark M. Nakashima, Takashi Ohno, Scott K. Saiki
Tom Brower, Representative District 22, In office, November 7, 2006 – November 3, 2020
In 2008, the Hawaii broadband task force published its final report, which included several
key recommendations to maximize the State's connectivity to the world. Specifically, the
task force found that submarine fiber optic cables are Hawaii's lifeline to the rest of the
world. Although Hawaii once served as the crossroads of transpacific communications,
all of the fiber systems built across the Pacific since 2001 have bypassed the State. The
task force recommended that Hawaii aggressively promote the landing of new transpacific
submarine fiber cables. One key step to do this is the construction of a shared access cable
station that would reduce the barriers of landing a fiber cable in Hawaii.
Telegeography, a telecommunications market research and consulting firm, released a
report in 2018 on the status of new transpacific fiber optic projects linking Asia and
North America. Of the six projects listed, none are planned to land in Hawaii. The
legislature finds that without a meaningful change in circumstances, the State will
exhaust subsea fiber optic cable capacity by 2025. [Emphasis Supplied]