Australia's undersea high-speed communications cable to the Solomon Islands will be cheaper and faster than a competing offer from Huawei, once Canberra coughs up approximately AU$200 million from its aid budget to cover two-thirds of the cost.
"What we have offered Solomon Islands and what they have accepted is an alternative to the offer from Huawei and ours is cheaper, it's likely to be a faster result for them and technically superior and also more resilient," Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters on Wednesday.
Canberra will pay two-thirds of the cost of the project to connect the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to Australia via fibre-optic cables.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is weighing up whether Sydney, Townsville, or the Sunshine Coast will be the best Australian link point.
"I want to ensure that countries in the Pacific have alternatives, that they don't only have one option and no others," Bishop said.
"We were in a position to be able to offer a more attractive offer for Solomon Islands and PNG and they accepted it."
Money will come from the aid budget, with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull telling reporters on Wednesday that it will be in the order of AU$200 million.
Australia and Solomon Islands will jointly fund the construction of a domestic telecommunication cable network linking remote provinces to Honiara.
It will link Auki in Malaita Province, Noro in Western Province, and Taro in Choiseul Province, with Honiara.
The cable is due to go live[1] at the end of 2019, and will allow the nation to move away from relying soley on satellite connectivity.
Turnbull said the cable will bring economic and social