Pacnet joins Pacific Fibre to build Trans-Pacific Subsea Cable

We are delighted to release this news

The Pacific Fibre cable is estimated to cost US$400 million and will deliver much needed network capacity between Australia, New Zealand and the US

SYDNEY, 28 July 2010 – Pacnet, Asia’s leading provider of telecommunication services, and Pacific Fibre Limited today announced plans to jointly build the Pacific Fibre cable, a city-to-city, low-latency subsea fiber optic cable that will boost connectivity between Australia, New Zealand and the US.

The total project cost of the new cable is estimated at US$400 million, and comprises of at least two fiber pairs with 64 wavelengths per fiber pair. By using the latest 40 gigabits per second (Gbps) per wavelength technology, the cable is expected to have a capacity of up to 5.12 terabits per second (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, and will also offer the most direct route between these landing points, delivering the lower latency connections that are being demanded by core customers.

“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,” said Bill Barney, Chief Executive Officer of Pacnet. “This investment is also an integral part of our overall strategy to expand our subsea cable infrastructure into the Australasia region, to complement our pan-Asian and Trans-Pacific network coverage and boost broadband connectivity into Asia.”

“It’s great to have Pacnet join us as equal partners,” said Pacific Fibre CEO Mark Rushworth. “This even further validates the need for a new cable to Australia and New Zealand, and will ensure the success of the Pacific Fibre system. Pacnet has done this before as the largest investor within Unity cable group, and we are already benefiting from working with them. We are also very happy to announce a further reduction in our estimated system build costs to around US$400m.”

The new cable will be built on a partnership model that allows Pacnet and Pacific Fibre to each own and operate a fiber pair on the new cable system, but share responsibility for the cable supply contract as well as operations and maintenance costs. This model allows partners to complement each other’s expertise and resources while reducing costs and risks, and has been proven through a number of successful precedents including the US$300 million Unity cable connecting Japan and the US, where Pacnet was the largest investor with ownership of two of the five fiber pairs.

Pacnet and Pacific Fibre will begin the process of selecting a vendor to build the new cable shortly and will announce the award of the contract in the coming months. The new cable is expected to be ready for service in 2013.

About Pacnet

Named “Company of the Year for Excellence in Growth” by Frost & Sullivan in 2009 and “Best Wholesale Carrier” at the Telecom Asia Awards 2009, Pacnet is Asia’s leading independent telecommunications service provider, formed from the operational merger of Asia Netcom and Pacific Internet. Pacnet owns and operates EAC-C2C, the region’s largest privately-owned submarine cable network at 36,800 km, with a design capacity of 10.24 Tbps, as well as EAC Pacific, which spans 9,620 km across the Pacific Ocean and delivers up to 1.92 Tbps of capacity between Asia and North America. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of industry leading IP-based solutions for carriers, large enterprises and SMEs. Pacnet is headquartered in Hong Kong and Singapore, with offices in all key markets in Asia and North America. For more information, please visit:  www.pacnet.com.

About Pacific Fibre

Pacific Fibre was formed in early 2010 and is backed by a number of New Zealand and Australian technology and business leaders, including The Warehouse’s Stephen Tindall, David Kirk, Xero’s Rod Drury and Trade Me founder Sam Morgan. They are committed to building a new fiber optic cable between Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Pacific Fibre sees a new cable as necessary to unleash the full capability of the NBN and UFB efforts in Australia and New Zealand. They look forward to a future of high speed, ubiquitous and increasingly uncapped internet capacity, which will allow for tremendous economic benefit in each country.

For more information, please contact:
Lorain Wong
Pacnet
Tel:     +852 2121 2973
Email: lorain.wong@pacnet.com

Roland Lim
Pacnet
Tel:     +852 2121 2975
Email: roland.lim@pacnet.com

Mark Rushworth
Pacific Fibre
Tel : +64 21 244 0777
Email: mark.rushworth@pacificfibre.net