WELLINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Telecom New Zealand,Vodafone and Australia's Telstra plan to builda $60 million submarine cable linking New Zealand with Australiaand strengthening its Internet connectivity with Asia, Telecomsaid on Tuesday.
The Tasman Global Access Cable, which will be the thirdbetween the two countries, is expected to be completed by late2014 and will boost the data transfer capacity of the smallisland nation by 300 times, the companies said.
"This cable will enable New Zealand to better leverageAustralia's much stronger Internet connectivity," Telstra Global Managing Director Martijn Blanken said in a statement.
The venture would be a roughly equal partnership between thethree firms. The contract to build the network, which isexpected to have a capacity of 30 terabits per second, would beput up for tender soon.
The cable will provide a third link to Australia after theSouthern Cross cable operated by Telecom, Singtel Optus and Verizon, which connects New Zealand to theUnited States via Australia, and Fiji, and the older Tasman-2,which is expected to become redundant in 2017.
Telecom and Vodafone control more than half of New Zealand'sbroadband network after Vodafone acquired Telstra's fixed-lineand internet operations in the country last year.
"Internet traffic is shifting towards Asia," Telecom CEOSimon Moutter told reporters.
The Southern Cross cable network would "easily handle theforeseeable future on the U.S. side", he said.
New Zealand's Telecommunications Users Association said thenew cable could reduce the prospects for a direct, high-speedlink between New Zealand and the United States, after such aproject was scrapped last year due to insufficient funding.
Vodafone (VOD)