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”.

You can read more over at stuff.co.nz