Waiheke Island gets second, higher capacity internet cable to mainland Auckland

Works on the Maraetai-Woodside Bay subsea cable got underway today. Photo / Supplied

Waiheke Island's broadband will no longer be hanging by a thread, once a new submarine fibre optic cable is laid by Chorus.

The network operator says it is spending $3.4m on a second cable linking the island to mainland Auckland.

All going well, it will be operational by August, Chorus says.

It will offer redundancy.

In April last year, a fault on Waiheke's sole cable left the island without broadband for half a day - and also hit its cellphone service, which relies on the landline back to the mainland.

And it will also substantially boost capacity.

Chorus' new Maraetai-Woodside Bay subsea cable will have 144 strands of fibre.

The current cable, operated by Vector, has just two strands, and was becoming strained at a time when some 56 per cent of the island's homes had connected to UFB fibre.

Chorus will use the new cable as its primary Auckland-Waiheke connection, but lease space on the old Vector cable as a backup.

Chorus is partnering with Visionstream and Wellington-based specialist marine vessel operator Seaworks on the new, 6km cable.

Work to lay the cable and bury it in on the ocean floor will take approximately ten days.