Company threatens to cut Northern Marianas cable

Wed May 2 02:55:32 UTC 2018

In 2015, the only submarine cable connecting the Northern Marianas 
Islands, a U.S. Territory, was damaged by a boulder.  It cut off all 
telecommunications to the U.S. Territory for several weeks. To obtain a 
second cable for the islands, the CNMI government signed an agreement to 
subsidize a second fiber optic cable.

Apparently there is now a dispute about the subsidy.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/356123/company-threatens-to-cut-northern-marianas-cable

A telecommunications company in the Northern Marianas is threatening to 
cut the fibre optic cable that connects Tinian and Rota to Saipan if the 
government fails to provide $US1.3 million it promised to pay for the 
service.

Under a memorandum of agreement signed with the CNMI government in 2016, 
Docomo Pacific agreed to include Tinian and Rota in connecting their fibre 
optic cable 'ATISA' at a fee of $US650,000 per island.

Earlier this week, the House of Representative included the $US1.3 million 
commitment to the telco in the $US15 million appropriations bill that also 
gave $US7 million to the CNMI Judiciary to fix its mould and 
air-conditioning problems.

The legislation still needs to be passed by the senate and supported by 
the governor.