Transcript
Solomon Islands chose China's Huawei to construct the cable which will connect its people to the world.
At the moment they rely on slow and expensive satellite for their broadband.
But several countries have raised cyber security concerns over Huawei and in 2012 the firm was banned from working on Australia's National Broadband Network.
The head of Australia's international spy agency ASIS, Nick Warner, reportedly told Solomon Islands in June that Australia would not let a Huawei constructed cable land in Sydney.
Asked for comment Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had this statement.
"To land a cable in Sydney, the Solomon Islands Submarine Cable Company (SISCC) needs to apply for a permit under the Telecommunications Act 1997. The Australia High Commission has been in discussions with the Solomon Islands Government about the undersea cable project and the application process for a number of months."
Last year the Asian Development Bank pulled $US18 million dollars in funding for the Solomon Islands project.
In a statement the bank said the Solomon Islands government had refused to disclose who the other bidders for the project were.
"The Huawei contract was developed outside of ADB procurement processes. ADB is committed to ensuring ADB financing is used within ADB procurement guidelines: On that basis, ADB could no longer be involved and therefore cancelled the project in May 2016. "
A Solomon Islands parliamentary report obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald noted corruption allegations around the Huawei deal and called for an urgent investigation.
The chair of the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce Jay Bartlett says the government needs to resolve the issues quickly because locals are missing out on faster cheaper internet.
"Infrastructure is vital and you know the longer we wait the more we get left behind. We just want to see this progress and get better access to internet facilities will have a huge impact not just for our businesses but I think there are studies that have shown that access to better internet actually impacts on the GDP of a nation."
Australian academic Jonathan Pryke says a new open tender process may be the answer to get the critical piece of infrastructure.
"Ultimately they desperately need this sort of connectivity because Solomon Islands is very removed from a lot of conventional markets and this will really help connect them and reduce the cost of business and the cost of private sector development. So it is a critical piece of infrastructure for the country and it is one that is just getting further and further delayed because of these issues because of this lack of transparency and accountability and hopefully it can be resolved soon."
The Solomon Islands government says it is pushing ahead with plans for the new internet cable.
It says it remains positive that concerns will be resolved amicably.
