Pipe's submarine cable to proceed

in brief Pipe Networks' undersea fibre-optic cable network linking Australia to Guam and international internet backbones will go ahead, the company announced this morning.

The project had been in uncertain waters due to issues with attracting finance for the project in the uncertain credit market, but Pipe Networks chief executive Bevan Slattery said in a statement today that terms of a new agreement with supplier Tyco Telecom and a key customer would allow the PPC-1 project to go ahead.

"Everyone essentially got together and said, 'how can we help make this project happen?'," he said. "It's been a tough few weeks, but there was an overwhelming commitment by everyone involved to ensure this project is a success."

At the heart of the new agreement is a rescheduling of ISP customer payments to match supplier payments. Pipe's board is confident that definitive agreements will be completed within the next four weeks.