Hawaiian Telcom recently invested $1.5 million to complete a fiber ring in East Hawaii that increases the reliability of the company’s system on the Big Island.

The company’s crews closed an approximately 25-mile fiber gap between Volcano and Pahala, completing another ring in Hawaiian Telcom’s network. Voice and data traffic can now be rerouted if a section of the fiber ring is damaged, minimizing potential service disruptions. The additional fiber also enhances the company’s ability to expand broadband service to underserved communities in East Hawaii.

“This completed fiber ring provides route diversity to more than half of Hawai‘i Island, including the districts of Puna, Ka‘u, South Kona, and Kailua-Kona,” said Dan Masutomi, director of strategic business development for Hawaiian Telcom. “It skyrockets the network reliability of our backbone system to 99.999%.

“In the event of a natural disaster such as the November-­December 2022 Mauna Loa eruption that threatened our infrastructure, we can utilize this new fiber path to avoid or minimize service disruptions on Hawai‘i Island,” Masutomi added.