Pacific Fibre will be signing up with Asian telco Pacnet as an equal partner, which will help in materializing its international data cable aims. Mark Rushworth, Pacific Fibre Chief Executive, shared that a joint agreement will be signed between the two Companies, which will eventually divide the cost of building the cable and operation as well as maintenance costs.

Rushworth added that signing up customers, selling capacity plus financing the project will be left to the discretion of each individual partner. The 13,000km Pacific Fibre project is supported by the likes of Sam Morgan, Sir Stephen Tindall, Rod Drury, David Kirk and Gareth Morgan. The project will be able to provide five times increased capacity of the existing Telecom-backed connection, while establishing an international data connection between New Zealand, Australia and the United States.

Earlier, the project costs were quoted US$650 million, but they are now estimated around US$400 million. By 2013, two fibre pairs will be run, with an ability of up to 5.12 terabits per second between Auckland, Sydney and Los Angeles, as has been planned by Pacific Fibre and Pacnet. Rushworth added that other partners can come on board, as the deal is open for one and all.

Rushworth said, “You are starting to see that more and more in the sub-sea cable world as well”.