TE Connectivity to lay Pacific Fibre cable

in brief Pacific Fibre has signed up US-based infrastructure company TE Connectivity to build its 12,750km undersea telecommunications fibre cable link between Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

"We look forward to working with TE SubCom, and are confident that the company's leading 40G and 100G technology, coupled with its extensive experience and marine capabilities, will enable us to successfully implement and deliver this landmark project," Pacific Fibre's director of business development Mike Constable said in a statement.

According to Pacific Fibre, the US$400 million cable, announced in March last year, was originally set to facilitate a total capacity of 5.12 terabits per second (Tbps); however, the cable will ultimately now have a capacity of 12.8Tbps. As the cable is direct from Auckland to California, it is expected to have a latency of 66 milliseconds.

The construction of the cable has not been without its roadblocks. The original partner to the project, Pacnet, dropped out of the agreement late last year, and although the company originally projected that the cable would be in the ocean by 2011 and ready for services by 2013, the company has now delayed the launch until the first quarter of 2014.