$400 million cable to double Internet capacity out of Australia

Two companies will invest an estimated $US400 million in a new 13,600-kilometer submarine cable that they say will double telecommunications capacity out of Australia and further reduce broadband costs to consumers. Telecommunications company Pacnet and a new company created specifically for the new cable, Pacific Fibre, will invest the money and have it built by 2013. They will tender for its build before year's end. The plan to build the cable was revealed in March, when Pacific Fibre was searching for an investment partner. The cable will travel between Australia and New Zealand and then on to California in the United States. Australia has five major submarine telecommunications cables that carry Internet traffic between it and other countries. The two companies intend to increase wholesale price competition between telecommunications providers such as Telstra, which has owned most of the cable capacity that leaves the country, and others, Pacnet chief executive Bill Barney said.