Mike Schwarz has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of Avaroa Cable Ltd.

Schwarz comes from Australian telecoms operator Vocus Group Ltd and brings extensive regional industry experience. He will lead the company from Rarotonga base.

Schwarz takes over from Dr Ranulf Scarbrough, who has led the company since 2018 as founding CEO.

The ACL board hailed the tremendous progress made since hiring Scarbrough in late 2018, when the Manatua cable initiative was still in its infancy.

The subsequent three years have seen the 3600km 10Tbps cable successfully manufactured, installed and commissioned across the South Pacific. The programme has included construction of twin cable landing stations on Rarotonga and Aitutaki, as well as building the company’s team of locally hired staff and establishing commercial operations.

ACL was the first of the four regional partners in the project to carry live customer internet traffic on the Manatua Cable and the cable had provided flawless service since going live in September 2020, the statement said.

The company was already commercially self-sufficient, through offering ultrafast optical fibre communication serves, replacing the need for unreliable and out-dated satellite connectivity in both Rarotonga and Aitutaki.

Tatiana Burn, ACL Board chairwoman, praised Ranulf for his contribution.

“I very much look forward to working with Mike on this next chapter.”

Cooks Islands Prime Minster Mark Brown said: “The Manatua Cable project is a crucial transformational government investment in the future of the Cook Islands.  

“I speak for the nation when I recognise the professionalism with which ACL has tackled these challenges. I thank Ranulf Scarbrough for his tireless efforts to get us to where we are today, and I welcome Mike Schwarz and I look forward to him continuing this important work”