North Auckland shore landing
Google New Zealand leadership reported a successful early-2026 landing with local community and Ngāti Manuhiri support.
Subsea connectivity · FULL DEEP TRACKER
Honomoana Subsea Cable
A living evidence file tracking Honomoana from physical landing through testing and ready-for-service, while separating cable design capacity, Vocus commercial capacity, route diversity and New Zealand’s actual resilience gains.
LANDED · PRE-SERVICEŌrewa · North AucklandCONTINUOUSLY MONITOREDUpdated 25 August 2026
NZ MILESTONELanded
SYSTEM DESIGN16 fibre pairs
PER-PAIR DESIGN16.2 Tbps
VOCUS INITIALUp to 30 Tbps
WHY IT MATTERS
Strategic significance
International fibre is a hard dependency for exportable compute. Honomoana gives New Zealand a new path to Melbourne, Polynesia and the wider South Pacific network, but its national value depends on completed commissioning, diverse terrestrial backhaul, accessible wholesale capacity and whether North Auckland landing concentration is offset elsewhere in the network.
CURRENT ASSESSMENT
The New Zealand branch has landed; the investable milestone is commercial service.
A Google executive announced the successful North Auckland landing in early 2026 with support from Ngāti Manuhiri. The FCC licence establishes a 265km New Zealand branch, 16 fibre pairs and at least 16.2Tbps design capacity per pair. However, cable landing is a construction milestone rather than proof that the full system is tested, lit and carrying commercial traffic. The reviewed sources do not establish a New Zealand ready-for-service date or current lit utilisation.
Honomoana’s strongest contribution is route optionality: a first direct path from New Zealand to Melbourne, a first direct connection to Polynesia and a southern path toward South America. The tracker must now test whether those paths become operational, commercially accessible and physically diverse beyond the beach landing and Auckland data-centre corridor.
EVIDENCE GATES
What is confirmed—and what remains open.
US cable-landing authority granted
The FCC granted Starfish Infrastructure authority on 30 July 2025, subject to a national-security agreement and standard conditions.
Five segments and 16 fibre pairs
The FCC licence specifies a 14,215km trans-Pacific trunk plus Tahiti Nui, Tahiti Iti, New Zealand and New South Wales branches; every segment has 16 fibre pairs.
Design versus commercial capacity
At least 16.2Tbps per fibre pair is system design capacity. Vocus’s up-to-30Tbps is its initial Australia–New Zealand commercial capacity, not total system capacity.
New Zealand branch structure
The FCC records a roughly 265km branch from the North Island to a trans-Pacific branching unit.
Google-controlled infrastructure
Snapper Infrastructure owns the New Zealand territorial segment; Starfish and the related territorial entities are indirect wholly owned Google subsidiaries.
CDC station and local fibre
CDC owns the existing New Zealand cable landing station, Snapper controls the landing, and Google identifies EonFibre as the local fibre-infrastructure partner.
Ready-for-service and utilisation
Landing does not prove end-to-end commissioning. New Zealand commercial service date, lit capacity, customers, pricing and traffic utilisation remain unverified publicly.
CAPACITY RECONCILIATION
Do not treat unlike numbers as equivalent.
Per-segment theoretical design
16 fibre pairs × at least 16.2Tbps per pair. This arithmetic is a design ceiling for a segment, not current lit or saleable New Zealand capacity.
Initial commercial capacity
Vocus says its dark fibre arrangement can initially provide up to 30Tbps between Australia and New Zealand, depending on route length.
Branch length
The FCC-defined North Island branch runs to a branching unit on the 14,215km San Diego–Victoria trans-Pacific segment.
DELIVERY & OPERATING STACK
The layers behind the headline.
Trans-Pacific trunk14,215kmRuns between San Diego County and Victoria, Australia, with branching architecture across the South Pacific.
New Zealand branch~265kmConnects the North Island landing to a branching unit on the trunk; it is not itself the full distance to Australia or the United States.
New Zealand landingCompletedPhysical shore landing is confirmed by Google leadership; end-to-end system commissioning remains a separate gate.
Cable landing stationCDC-ownedCDC Data Centres owns the existing New Zealand landing station; Snapper is the landing party and controls the station for Honomoana.
Territorial cable ownerSnapper InfrastructureSnapper owns the New Zealand territorial portion and is an indirect wholly owned Google subsidiary.
Local terrestrial fibreEonFibre partnerGoogle identifies EonFibre as constructing the local fibre infrastructure required for the landing.
Commercial capacityVocus dark fibreVocus has dark fibre across Pacific Connect and options for more capacity; disclosed initial trans-Tasman capability is up to 30Tbps.
Pacific topologyRing initiativeHonomoana, Tabua and the Fiji–French Polynesia interlink are designed to add route options; resilience depends on all relevant segments and backhaul operating.
VERIFIED TIMELINE
Key milestones and status changes
- 25 Oct 2023Google announces Honomoana and Tabua as the foundation of the South Pacific Connect initiative.
- 30 Apr 2024Vocus and Google expand the programme with an Auckland branch, Sydney and Melbourne landings and an initial up-to-30Tbps Vocus position.
- 30 Oct 2024Starfish files its US cable landing licence application.
- 30 Jul 2025The FCC grants the Honomoana landing licence, subject to security commitments.
- 8 Oct 2025Google reports advanced construction and names Ōrewa, EonFibre and CDC, targeting an early-2026 landing.
- Early 2026Google New Zealand leadership reports the successful North Auckland landing with support from Ngāti Manuhiri.
- Q4 2026 targetThe FCC record states Starfish intended to commence commercial operation of the US landing point; this is not proof of whole-system or New Zealand RFS.
STAKEHOLDER MAP
Who shapes the outcome
- Google LLC and Starfish Infrastructure
- Snapper Infrastructure Limited, owner of the New Zealand territorial segment
- CDC Data Centres NZ, owner of the existing landing station
- EonFibre, local terrestrial fibre partner
- Vocus, dark-fibre and commercial-capacity partner
- Ngāti Manuhiri, local communities and Auckland authorities
- French Polynesian, Australian and United States landing entities and regulators
- New Zealand carriers, cloud providers, data centres and enterprise capacity buyers
DEPENDENCIES
What must align
- Completion and testing of every required wet and landing segment
- Power-feed and submarine line-terminal equipment commissioning
- Terrestrial backhaul diversity from Ōrewa and CDC into national networks
- Pacific Connect interlink and complementary Honomoana/Tabua paths
- Operational readiness across multiple legal jurisdictions
- Carrier interconnection, IRUs, spectrum and commercially accessible pricing
- Cybersecurity, physical security and repair arrangements
- Customer demand from cloud, content, carrier and data-centre operators
RISKS & OPEN QUESTIONS
What is not yet resolved
- A cable landing can be mistaken for ready-for-service or current traffic
- The 259.2Tbps arithmetic design ceiling can be misreported as lit or New Zealand-available capacity
- Vocus’s up-to-30Tbps position is not total cable design capacity or current utilisation
- New Zealand’s landing remains in the wider Auckland region, so national geographic diversity depends on terrestrial and other cable paths
- Google ownership increases delivery certainty but also concentrates control of strategic infrastructure
- Ring resilience depends on completion, interconnection and routing across the broader Pacific Connect system
- Wholesale access terms, customer commitments and pricing are not public
- Cable faults, fishing, anchoring, earthquakes and repair-vessel availability remain physical risks
- The Google-commissioned NZ$36 billion AI estimate is a forecast, not value attributable to Honomoana
CORE EVIDENCE REGISTER
Primary and supporting sources
01FCC Honomoana cable landing licence↗02Google: New Zealand connectivity investment↗03Google Cloud: South Pacific Connect↗04Google leadership: New Zealand landing milestone↗05Vocus and Google Pacific Connect agreement↗06FCC granted submarine cable licences register↗07TeleGeography Honomoana system map↗08Honomoana system technical summary↗