New Australia, NZ, US cable for 2013

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cable, fibre, nz, broadband

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chisITedu@chisITedu March 15th, 2010

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tessa_alfred@tessa_alfred March 11th, 2010

A group of Kiwi businessmen have formed a new venture to build an undersea fibre-optic cable connecting Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

The planned fibre cable route connecting Australia, New Zealand and the US

The planned route
(Credit: Pacific Fibre)

The group includes The Warehouse founder Stephen Tindal, TradeMe founder Sam Morgan and Xero CEO Rod Drury, as well as former Vodafone chief Mark Rushworth, telco veteran John Humphrey and entrepreneur Lance Wiggs.

According to a statement issued today, the group, which has dubbed itself Pacific Fibre and has set up a website and associated Twitter account, is planning to construct a 5.12 terabits per second, 13,000km cable to be ready in 2013, connecting the three countries. That capacity, it said, would be five times the level of the existing Southern Cross cable.

The cable would also have the potential to branch out to reach several Pacific islands.

"We desperately need a cable that is not purely based on profit maximisation, but on delivering unconstrained international bandwidth to everybody, and so we've decided to see whether we can do it ourselves," said Morgan.

Tindal said such internet infrastructure was "necessary and basic" and would help decrease the distance between New Zealand and the international markets. "Doing so will be incredibly valuable for New Zealand and Australian businesses and consumers," he said.

"This is a bold vision which, as realists, we know will not be easy to deliver, it will take a huge effort to complete, and has many risks. While we have completed early feasibility work it is essential for people to know we now need to determine the level of interest from potential partners before we go to the next stage of a full business case, risk assessment and proof of concept to take to investors and bankers."

"We realise the risks are large but are prepared to push through to the next stage. We have released this news today primarily to ensure that any parties who are interested in this space have an opportunity to speak with us during this early planning phase."

Talkback

1300km won't reach Auckland!

Perhaps there's a zero missing from the distance given.

David JohnstonDavid Johnston March 11th, 2010
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secret plan

their secret plan is to connect it to Sydney and just use the new PIPE Networks Australia-Guam link ;)

but seriously, the distance article does look like it is out by a magnitude of 10.

AnonymousAnonymous March 12th, 2010
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News Editor

Yes, it was out by a factor of ten. I have fixed it now.

Suzanne Tindal, News EditorSuzanne Tindal, News Editor March 15th, 2010
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A little bit further than 1300km

13 000km
http://www.pacificfibre.net/

AnonymousAnonymous March 11th, 2010
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Regardless..

Regardless of missing digit, it's a truly remarkable plan. I'd say many businesses here in Aus would benefit from such an initiative.

AnonymousAnonymous March 14th, 2010
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