Telecom beefs up interisland communication

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Thursday 19th July 2001

Telecom (NZSE: TEL) has flicked the switch on a new $30 million Cook Strait cable which it says will bring big advances in quality and bandwidth to the South Island.

The company says the cable is one of its biggest single investments in infrastructure in recent history, and is the only telecommunications cable linking the North and South Islands that has been deliberately diverted away from Wellington to avoid earthquake and other risks.

Telecom network manager, Simon Moutter, says the 200-kilometre cable is a significant enhancement to the backbone telecommunications network for New Zealand, with a carrying capacity of up to 3.2 terrabits a second.

"That's enough to enable everyone in the South Island to watch a separate high quality digital video channel at the same time," says Mr Moutter.

"This new cable delivers high quality and huge bandwidth and that means South Island businesses and residential customers will be able to tap into advanced information technologies."

The cable is part of a three stage $38 million project. The second stage is a new cable across the South Island between Greymouth and Christchurch, which is being laid now, and the final stage will be reconfiguring the network.

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