Southern Cross completes first stage of cable upgrade

With work already underway on the Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) network, cable company Southern Cross Cables has begun upgrading its trans-Pacific cable in a move that will ultimately see capacity increased from 1.2 to 2.0 Terabits per second (TBps).

With the completion of the first stage of the upgrade, the cable’s total lit capacity is now 1.4TBps. Southern Cross says this will increase to 1.6 TBps by March, and to 2.0 TBps by December.

Ross Pfeffer, Southern Cross sales and marketing director, says the company is keeping ahead of the rapidly expanding needs of broadband users in New Zealand and Australia.

"Some have said there won’t be enough capacity for hi-speed internet growth,” Pfeffer says, "but as our expansions and the ongoing rapid advances in technology show, that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Pfeffer adds that with capacity increases come price declines, which are being passed on to customers in the form of increased data caps.

"It’s particularly pleasing to see how ISP competition has resulted in big increases to retail data caps over the last year for both Australian and New Zealand internet users, and to see the retail cost of data continuing to fall,” Pfeffer says.

"Our new initiatives are again designed to support this process as another step towards the new NBN (Australia’s National Broadband Network) and UFB environments.”

Built in 2000, the 28,500 kilometre undersea cable has the potential to offer 6 Terabits per second by December next year, Southern Cross says.

Image source here.