Chinese telcos advance trans-Tasman link

Huawei and Axin are set to start surveying on their planned 3000km trans-Tasman cable, but the launch date has been pushed back to the end of 2013.

Axin, the Australasian agent and representative of China Communications Service Corp, wants to build a 3000km cable between Auckland and Sydney, and has tapped Huawei Marine Networks Co to help build the link, reportedly worth $100 million.

On Monday, the companies announced the finalisation for the survey agreement for the link.

"The survey to be launched is a critical element of the project, as the data collected will allow Huawei Marine to deploy a system properly designed for the changing conditions along the route, and the information received will greatly enhance system security," Huawei Marine said in a statement.

Although it was expected to finish at the end of 2013, the project is now expected to be completed in late 2013. The link will adopt 40-gigabits-per-second equipment to achieve 3.2 terabits per second per fibre pair.

That will bring it in line with Southern Cross Cable's existing technology, which is planned to be upgraded to 40Gbps this year.

Southern Cross will further improve its system to 100Gbps equipment by 2015, taking the network potential to 6Tbps.

The start date will get a jump on Pacific Fibre, which is expected to start in 2014.