Kordia cable gets green light

Kordia has announced it will go ahead with building a new trans-Tasman cable.The SOE has secured foundation customers for the OptiKor cable project, meaning that finances for the project appear to be secure. As outlined previously in Telecommunications Review , the cable is expected to cost around $200 million.Kordia chairman David Clarke says the board is very pleased with the progress being made on the project and that work will continue to “ramp up” over the next six months or so.“Our proposed cable will take the most direct, quickest and least expensive route for New Zealand customers. OptiKor is a better proposition for New Zealand than any other cable project – we are the most direct route to Australia and through our partners, we can deliver New Zealand traffic all the way to the United States,” says Clarke.The company aims to award a contract early next year for installation of the cable.Meanwhile, the company has posted a stronger second half, but ultimately posted a loss for the full year. Kordia made a net profit after tax of $4.7 million before restructuring costs. Restructuring costs, which has seen Kordia’s engineering staff decrease by 50 per cent, during the year means that the company has actually posted a loss of $1.1 million on revenues of $254 million. Restructuring cost the company $2.2 million after tax for the full year.Kordia boss Geoff Hunt says that the result is pleasing considering the difficult economic times.