Pacnet, Pacific Fibre to jointly build undersea cable

Asian telecommunications service providers Pacnet and Pacific Fibre plan to jointly build the Pacific Fibre cable, a subsea fibre-optic cable that will boost connectivity between Australia, New Zealand and the US. The total project cost of the new cable is estimated at USD 400 million, and comprises at least two fibre pairs with 64 wavelengths per fibre pair. The cable is expected to have a capacity of up to 5.12 Tbps, and will be further upgradeable to beyond 12 Tbps with future 100 Gbps per wavelength technology. The 13,600 km cable will land in Sydney, Auckland and Los Angeles. The new cable will be built on a partnership model that allows Pacnet and Pacific Fibre to each own and operate a fibre pair on the new cable system, but share responsibility for the cable supply contract as well as operations and maintenance costs. Pacnet and Pacific Fibre will begin the process of selecting a vendor to build the new cable shortly. The new cable is expected to be ready for service in 2013.