A new connection for Kahikinui: expanding broadband access in remote Maui

For one of Maui’s most remote Hawaiian homestead communities, broadband access means much more than getting online. Oceanit is supporting the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in bringing dependable connectivity to Kahikinui—helping residents stay connected to family, participate in their community, and access critical information when it matters most. 

Along Maui’s remote southeastern coast, Kahikinui is a community shaped by both its rugged landscape and a deep connection to place. 

Living here also comes with challenges. Residents are entirely off-grid. Water and power require self-sufficient solutions, and reliable communication has historically been difficult to come by. 

“Nowadays everybody wants to stay connected,” said Kyle Elama Farm, president of Ka ʻOhana o Kahikinui, the community’s homestead association. “Getting a signal here is difficult.” 

Local cellular services traveled all the way from Hawaiʻi Island, making them unreliable, Farm explained. Then the community’s previous communications provider abruptly ended coverage, Kahikinui was left with even fewer options for staying connected. 

For the families who call Kahikinui home, that communications gap affected much more than convenience. 

Bringing broadband to a remote community 

Through the State of Hawaiʻi’s Connect Kākou initiative, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) set out to expand broadband infrastructure across Hawaiian Home Lands, including finding a solution that could work in Kahikinui’s challenging environment. 

Funded through the federal Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, the Kahikinui project brought together DHHL, Oceanit, and Banyan Networks. Oceanit was contracted by DHHL to design the system and provide project-management support, with Banyan Networks completing the installation. 

The result was a satellite-based broadband system designed to provide reliable connectivity despite the community’s remote location and mountainous terrain. 

For Farm, the impact is already tangible. 

Kahikinui includes 99 leases and families, many of whom cannot physically attend meetings at the community center. With broadband available, beneficiaries and their families have a new way to participate remotely, hear what is happening in Kahikinui, and remain connected to the community. 

The system is also supporting something as ordinary—and important—as children getting to and from school. 

At Kahikinui’s only bus stop, Wi-Fi supports security cameras, enables Wi-Fi calling, and gives students internet access while they wait to be picked up or dropped off. 

“The Wi-Fi provides security,” Farm said. 

When connectivity became critical 

The value of the new infrastructure became even more apparent during an August 2025 wildfire that threatened Kahikinui. 

The fire came close to several structures, and the community center became part of the emergency response. Firefighters stayed there overnight for fire watch, while the building and surrounding area served as a command post for the fire department. 

With broadband now available, the community has a dependable communications resource in a place where reliable connectivity had historically been difficult. 

For Sterling Yee, Oceanit’s Director of Strategy, who oversaw the project and traveled to Kahikinui throughout the effort, seeing how residents used the system reinforced why the work mattered. 

“The times I went Kahikinui, I was reminded that this project was about much more than bringing internet to a remote community. It was about giving families a reliable way to stay connected and making sure people could access critical information when they needed it most. Seeing how something we helped build could make a real difference in people’s everyday lives—and during an emergency—made this project incredibly meaningful.” 

Building around the needs of the community 

The project did not end when the equipment was installed. 

Oceanit and Banyan Networks returned to fine-tune the system as it was put into use, helping ensure the technology worked for the people relying on it. 

For Kahikinui, broadband is also part of a larger effort to make the community center a more useful resource for residents. 

“Our goal is to get this community center fully functional,” Farm said, “and then it can be utilized like any other community center.” 

That vision speaks to the broader potential of connectivity. Beyond emergency response and everyday communication, dependable broadband can create new opportunities to access education, telehealth, government services, and other resources that can be difficult to reach from a remote community. 

But its most immediate impact is much simpler: helping people stay connected. 

Connection to community and place 

Kahikinui’s story stretches far beyond this infrastructure project. Farm noted that thousands of Native Hawaiians historically lived in the area, despite the challenges of its rugged environment. 

For today’s residents, living in Kahikinui remains difficult—but it also carries a profound connection to the land and to the generations who came before them. 

“We always acknowledge the kūpuna that came before us,” Farm said. “Now it’s our turn to improve the lifestyle of the residents of Kahikinui.” 

The broadband project is one part of that effort. 

DHHL continues to advance solutions for additional homestead communities and is exploring portable emergency satellite kits that could be deployed during disasters, while supporting workforce-development efforts to build local capacity for the future. 

Oceanit is proud to support DHHL, Ka ʻOhana o Kahikinui, and Banyan Networks in this work. 

For a community as remote as Kahikinui, broadband can connect far more than devices. It can connect families, enable community participation, strengthen emergency response, and provide another tool for residents working to build a resilient future in a place they deeply value. 

As Farm put it: “The ones that are here feel that connection, and we have such a love for this place.”