Pacific Fibre to Build Undersea Cable System

Pacific Fibre and TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company, announced the signing of a supply contract for the Pacific Fibre undersea cable system. The exceptionally long system will stretch 12,750km and boast a high cross sectional capacity.

Intended to meet the increasing demand for international bandwidth in Australia and New Zealand, which has been growing at a rate of 55 percent per year, the Pacific Fibre system is planned for completion in 2014. The two-cable system will link Australia and New Zealand via a trans-Tasman cable, while connecting New Zealand to the United States via a trans-Pacific cable. The cable landing points will be in Sydney, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Los Angeles, California in the United States.

“Demand for international capacity in Australia and New Zealand is sharply increasing and is on track to continue growing for years to come,” said Mark Rushworth, CEO, Pacific Fibre.  “The Pacific Fibre cable will not only provide...high speed international connectivity to satisfy the growth in broadband demand,  but it will also help Australia and New Zealand realize the potential of both countries’ multi-billion dollar broadband initiatives.”

Upon completion, the Pacific Fibre system will be the highest-capacity-per-fiber-pair system ever built. The cables will each have two fiber pairs, with an ultimate cable design capacity of 12.8 Tbps.