Pacific Fibre is a New Zealand-based company that proposed to build a trans-

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

undersea communications cable that was to have competed with the

Southern Cross Cable The Southern Cross Cable is a trans-Pacific network of telecommunications cables commissioned in 2000. The network is operated by the Bermuda-registered company ''Southern Cross Cables Limited''. The network has 28,900 km of submarine an ...

operated by

Telecom New Zealand Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company providing fixed-line telephone services, a mobile phone network, internet access services, and (through its Spark Digital division) ICT services to businesses. It was know ...

. The cable would have totalled 12,750 km (7,920 miles) in length, and the initial investment was projected to be US$350 million. Customers included

Vodafone New Zealand Vodafone New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company. It was a subsidiary of the London-listed company Vodafone Plc until 31 July 2019, when its sale to a consortium comprising Infratil Limited and Brookfield Asset Manageme ...

, Australian ISP

iiNet iiNet Limited is an Australian internet service provider that sells NBN plans and services on its ULTRA Broadband Cable, FTTB and VDSL2 networks. It was acquired by TPG Telecom in July 2020. iiNet was acquired by TPG in September 2015 for $ ...

, and the

Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network The Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN), now known simply as the REANNZ Network, is a high-capacity, ultra high-speed national research and education network (NREN) connecting New Zealand's tertiary institutions, research organ ...

in New Zealand.

Routes

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

<=> Sydney *Auckland <=>

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Pacific Fibre cable history

In July 2011, Pacific Fibre selected TE SubCom, a

TE Connectivity TE Connectivity is an American Swiss-domiciled technology company that designs and manufactures connectors and sensors for several industries, such as automotive, industrial equipment, data communication systems, aerospace, defense, medical, o ...

company, to deploy the cable. Marine route surveys began after permitting studies for California and Australia were completed in March 2012. In April 2012, a US customer agreed to purchase connectivity services. Fundraising for the project was scheduled to complete in June 2012. On August 1, Pacific Fibre announced they were unable to secure sufficient investment and the planned cable was discontinued. "I think it's tragic news for the New Zealand market," said Telecommunications Users Association CEO Paul Brislen. "We've spent millions of shareholder funds trying to get this done and despite getting some good investor support we have not been able to find the level of investment required in New Zealand initially and more broadly offshore," said Pacific Fibre chairman Sam Morgan. Pacific Fibre subsequently ceased operations. In November 2012, German entrepreneur

Kim Dotcom Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz; 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist who resides in Glenorchy, New Zealand. He first rose to fame in Germany in the 1990s ...

announced his intention to revive the Pacific Fibre broadband cable project. The plan to lay a 12,950 km cable between Auckland, Sydney and Los Angeles was abandoned in August when its backers couldn't raise the NZ$400 million they needed. Dotcom said his new Mega company would require more bandwidth than the current

can provide, but would allow him to provide "free broadband for all Kiwis". The announcement was welcomed by technology commentators in New Zealand, but some suggested the United States' allegations over alleged internet piracy could scupper any proposal.

Notable people

* Mark Rushworth, CEO * Lance Wiggs * Sam Morgan,

TradeMe Trade Me is New Zealand's largest online auction and classifieds website. Managed by Trade Me Ltd., the site was founded in 1999 by New Zealand entrepreneur Sam Morgan (entrepreneur), Sam Morgan, who sold it to John Fairfax Holdings, Fairfax in ...

founder and senior adviser * Michael Boustridge * Rod Drury, managing director of Xero and senior adviser *

David Kirk David Edward Kirk (born 5 October 1960) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He is best known for having been the captain of the All Blacks when they won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. Early years Kirk was born in Wellington an ...

, board member of the Hoyts Group *

Stephen Tindall Sir Stephen Robert Tindall (born May 1951) is the founder of New Zealand retailer The Warehouse, The Warehouse Group, and the Tindall Foundation. Early life and education Tindall attended Takapuna Grammar and has a Diploma of Management from the ...

, founder of

The Warehouse The Warehouse Group (TWG) was founded by Stephen Tindall in 1982, and is the largest retail group operating in New Zealand. It is a corporate group that consists of The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Torpedo7, Noel Leeming, 1-day and TheMar ...

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in F ...

, founder of

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

and major investor (via his New Zealand investment vehicle,

Valar Ventures Valar Ventures is a US-based venture capital fund founded by Andrew McCormack, James Fitzgerald and Peter Thiel. Historically, the majority of the firm's investments have been in technology startups based outside of Silicon Valley, including in E ...

{{cite web, last=Goh, first=Esther, title=Facebook investor Peter Thiel fronts up for NZ tech venture fund, url=http://www.idealog.co.nz/blog/2012/03/facebook-investor-peter-thiel-fronts-nz-tech-ventu, publisher= Idealog, accessdate=2012-04-20, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323220226/http://idealog.co.nz/blog/2012/03/facebook-investor-peter-thiel-fronts-nz-tech-ventu, archivedate=2012-03-23, date=2012-03-22, url-status=live).

External links

Submarine Networks - Pacific Fibre

Pacific Fibre

References

Telecommunications companies of New Zealand Defunct companies of New Zealand

Routes

Pacific Fibre cable history

Notable people

See also

External links

References