Vodafone NZ signs up for Pacific Fibre

NZPA

Monday 22nd August 2011

Vodafone New Zealand has signed up as a customer of Pacific Fibre, the company that wants to build an undersea cable between Australia, New Zealand and the United States to rival the Southern Cross cable network.

Pacific Fibre said it had signed a 10-year agreement with Vodafone. It did not put a value on the contract, beyond saying that it was a multi-million dollar figure.

Pacific Fibre chief executive Mark Rushworth, a former Vodafone New Zealand chief marketing officer, said the contract was Pacific Fibre's largest to date.

Its cable system was scheduled to be launched by early 2014, the company said today.

Vodafone chief executive Russell Stanners said Pacific Fibre was bringing much needed competition to the international bandwidth market.

Pacific Fibre's investors include Rod Drury, the founder of Xero, Sir Stephen Tindall, the founder of The Warehouse, and Trade Me founder Sam Morgan. The company has estimated the cable will cost a total of $US400 million ($NZ488 million).

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