Pacific Fibre is now taking tenders from selected vendors for the Pacific Fibre Cable System, which will one day connect Australia to New Zealand and the US.

The Invitation To Tender was sent to established leaders in the submarine cable system supply industry.

"The 5.12 Tbit/sec two fibre pair system, which includes new build cable landing stations in each country, will allow Australian and New Zealand carriers to secure supply of sufficient capacity to take advantage of the NBN and UFB fibre rollout plans,” said Pacific Fibre in a release today.

Mike Constable, Director for Business Development, responsible for leading the build of the cable system, said,”This is a significant milestone in the project development phase and shows the momentum Pacific Fibre has built towards achieving its goal. The 450 page document reflects the considerable work we have put into the design and configuration of the cable system and provides the basis of the contract which we expect to execute with a selected vendor in the third quarter this year.”

Vendor responses are due in mid-May with contract negotiations expected to commence with a preferred vendor soon after.

Pacific Fibre CEO Mark Rushworth said that Pacific Fibre will building the cable alone, after Pacnet made a decision to walk away from the project.

"A joint build Memorandum of Understanding expired earlier this year, freeing us to move ahead more quickly. We have been assuming a solo-build system for several months now and remain firmly on track to finance and deliver the system in 2013. Our proposed design greatly expands capacity for carriers and multinational businesses, and provides much needed diversity for the region,” he said.

Back in January Pacific Fibre raised NZ$5.5 million for the project.