Pacific Fibre

Pacific Fibre is a New Zealand-based company that proposed to build a trans-Pacific undersea communications cable that was to have competed with the Southern Cross Cable operated by Telecom New Zealand. The cable would have totalled 12,750 km (7,920 miles) in length, and the initial investment was projected to be US$350 million. Customers included Vodafone New Zealand, Australian ISP iiNet, and the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network in New Zealand.[1]

Pacific Fibre Cable System
Cable typeFibre-optic
FateCancelled
Construction finishedJuly 16, 2014 (planned)[1]
Design capacity512 Tbit/s per cable
Lit capacity120 Gbit/s
Built byTE Subcom
Landing pointsAuckland
Sydney
Los Angeles
Area servedSouthern Pacific
Owner(s)Pacific Fibre
WebsitePacific Fibre.net

Routes

Pacific Fibre cable history

In July 2011, Pacific Fibre selected TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity company, to deploy the cable.[2]

Marine route surveys began after permitting studies for California and Australia were completed in March 2012.[3]

In April 2012, a US customer agreed to purchase connectivity services.[1] Fundraising for the project was scheduled to complete in June 2012.[1]

On August 1, Pacific Fibre announced they were unable to secure sufficient investment and the planned cable was discontinued. "I think it's tragic news for the New Zealand market," said Telecommunications Users Association CEO Paul Brislen.[4] "We've spent millions of shareholder funds trying to get this done and despite getting some good investor support we have not been able to find the level of investment required in New Zealand initially and more broadly offshore," said Pacific Fibre chairman Sam Morgan.[5] Pacific Fibre subsequently ceased operations.

In November 2012, German entrepreneur Kim Dotcom announced his intention to revive the Pacific Fibre broadband cable project. The plan to lay a 12,950 km cable between Auckland, Sydney and Los Angeles was abandoned in August when its backers couldn't raise the NZ$400 million they needed.[6] Dotcom said his new Mega company would require more bandwidth than the current Southern Cross Cable can provide, but would allow him to provide "free broadband for all Kiwis".[7]

The announcement was welcomed by technology commentators in New Zealand, but some suggested the United States' allegations over alleged internet piracy could scupper any proposal.[8]

Notable people

See also

References
  1. "Pacific Fibre sales hit US$200m". The New Zealand Herald. 2012-04-10. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  2. Wiggs, Lance. "Pacific Fibre Selects TE Subcom to supply cable system". Pacific Fibre. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  3. Todd. "Pacific Fibre andTE SubCom Complete Permitting Study for Trans-Pacific Subsea Cable System". Pacific Fibre. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  4. "Plug pulled on Pacific Fibre". Stuff.co.nz. August 1, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  5. "Pacific Fibre: We gave it a good try". New Zealand Herald. August 1, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  6. "Pacific Fibre folds". 3 News NZ. 1 August 2012.
  7. "Dotcom signals sea cable venture". 3 News NZ. 4 November 2012.
  8. "Government urged to consider Dotcom cable plan". 3 News NZ. 5 November 2012.
  9. Goh, Esther (2012-03-22). "Facebook investor Peter Thiel fronts up for NZ tech venture fund". Idealog. Archived from the original on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
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