Southern Cross Cable has cut the price it charges for transferring internet traffic to and from New Zealand by almost 50%. The announcement came hours after a plan for a rival trans-Tasman cable took another step towards happening.
The rival cable would be owned by Axin and run by Kordia, a New Zealand state-owned enterprise.
Marketing director Ross Pfeffer, of Southern Cross Cable has said the timing was ”totally coincidental”.
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New Zealand could be an ideal location as a data-storage hub for the Pacific, according to Pacific Fibre chief executive Mark Rushworth.
International data centers, or locations filled with servers housing data are increasing in demand as the size of information on the internet increases.
“New Zealand (is) politically safe and neutral and would be a fantastic location for data centres between Asia and the United States.”
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New Zealand will now have a second international internet link after Pacific Fibre struck a deal with US based cable company, TE SubCom.
Mark Rushworth, chief executive of Pacific Fibre said,
“Demand for international capacity in Australia and New Zealand is sharply increasing and is on track to continue growing for years to come,”
“The Pacific Fibre cable will not only provide unsurpassed 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.”
If the plans stay to schedule, the cable is due to be operational by the first quarter of 2014.
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A deadline to agree where the fibre for the new Ultra Fast Broadband network will be layed down has been missed. The plan was meant to be agreed on within 30 days of Telecom securing its $929 million contract with the Crown, which happened on May 24.
Telecom spokesman Ian Bonnar has said the delay is because they are working through settling on the final stages of the agreement.
“We want to make sure that we have a plan that meets the Crown’s objectives to target high-priority customers and will be delivered on time, ” said Bonnar, going on to say,
“We believe a fundamental key to successful projects is that a little more time spent up front planning significantly increases the likelihood that outcomes will be delivered on time and in full.”
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Ultra Fast Broadband is expected to be available to the greater Wellington region by 2019, with priority given to schools, hospitals and other “priority users” which are scheduled to be fully connected by 2015.
Wellington and Christchurch are set to benefit most due to the presence of TelstraClear’s popular triple-play InHome cable network. The product is a direct competitor to Telecom’s new network.
TelstraClear chief executive Allan Freeth has said,
“We are here to stay and compete hard and we are certainly not scared of fibre. Are they going to lower the price? Well, I can lower the price.”
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