Auckland, 11 September 2013 – New Zealand ISP Orcon has signed a letter of intent
with submarine cable group Hawaiki Cable Limited, confirming its intention to acquire
international bandwidth on the New Zealand/Australia-US segments of the Hawaiki
submarine cable system.
Hawaiki’s 14,000 km trans-Pacific cable, scheduled for completion in late 2015, will
link New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii to the US west coast. In July this year,
Hawaiki signed a memorandum of understanding with the regional economic
development body Northland Inc. to land its cable in Whangarei.
The multi-million dollar deal with Orcon, who was acquired by a consortium of local
businesspeople earlier this year, will see the ISP purchase 40Gbps capacity in year
one, with substantial increases planned in additional years, that it said will help to
unlock the potential of New Zealand’s broadband market.
Orcon CEO Greg McAlister said the decision to partner Hawaiki stemmed from the
need to secure competitively priced international capacity to support Orcon’s
continued growth, and the growing demands of New Zealand internet users.
“The country’s bandwidth requirements are more than doubling year-on-year, and
with the growth of video services, and proliferation of devices, this growth rate could
even increase.
“We are really excited to be able to work with a new cable provider to secure a
substantial amount of bandwidth. In fact, it’s imperative to New Zealand’s
development that we have a second cable network. Competition leads to better
prices, and we’ll be able to offer these in turn to our customers.”
Hawaiki Cable CEO Rémi Galasso said the agreement with Orcon was another
important milestone. “We are building momentum and the commitment of Orcon
brings us another step closer to system deployment. Companies like Orcon see the
future and advantages of a future-proof cable system that links New Zealand directly
to the US and the rest of the world.”
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