The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District board is scheduled to meet in closed session Thursday to discuss a “potential lease of real property on the Samoa Peninsula" with two companies related to fiber-optic cable landings.

One, Trans Pacific Networks, is reported to be working on a project to put in place what has been deemed the world’s longest fiber-optic telecommunications cable, which will link Southeast Asia to the United States, with landfall slated for Eureka, according to a February article in Asia Times. Read more here.

The other, Inyo Networks Inc., held a scoping meeting in July of 2019 about its plans to bring broadband to underserved areas of Humboldt County (read the Times-Standard’s coverage here).

The Lost Coast Outpost had also reported back in 2017 about discussions between Inyo and the harbor district to connect to an undersea cable off the local coast for its "Digital 299" project.

Harbor District Executive Director Larry Oetker said in a phone call today that he could not discuss specifics but that the district is “looking to do a cable landing” and that it is a project that has been in the works for “several years.”

“We are hoping to come to a conclusion within a month on an agreement,” he said.

The meeting agenda can be found here.