The aim of the cable is "to make fast, inexpensive, unlimited broadband a reality” along with de-bottlenecking capacity at peak times.
According to pacificfibre.net, the “next generation high definition Skype and Youtube type applications, including multi-party video conferencing, streaming HD movies and countless future innovations, will become an everyday reality.”
The bandwidth in New Zealand isn’t up to the capacity required to run certain applications, resulting in poor user experience. Also the prices for bandwidth paid by Australians and New Zealanders are high when compared internationally.
The proposed plan will cost around US$400 million (NZ$550 million), and will connect Sydney, Auckland and Los Angeles with 5.12 Terabits/sec of capacity in 2013, upgradable to over 12 Terabits/sec.
Bill Barney, chief executive of Pacnet, said on a Pacific Fibre blog: “As Australia and New Zealand look towards deploying national broadband networks that will raise broadband penetration and access speeds, this new cable that we are building with Pacific Fibre will deliver the enhanced international connectivity that is essential to support these broadband initiatives.”
The 13,600 km cable will take the most direct route and deliver low latency connections needed by core customers.
The Pacific Fibre team, including Trade Me's Sam Morgan and Sir Stephen Tindall, founder of The Warehouse, have been joined by a group of experienced investors.
Rod Drury, director of the New Zealand Stock Exchange, and board member on the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Beachhead Advisory Board, is the founding director.
“This project is important for New Zealand, commercially viable and we’re excited to be able to broaden our shareholder base with people who can make this happen,” said Mr. Drury in a press release.
Pacnet and Pacific Fibre will start the process of selecting a vendor to build the new cable soon, with the contract awarded in the coming months. The new cable is expected to be ready for service in 2013.
