Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams is calling for expressions of interest from companies who are considering building a new international telecommunications cable between New Zealand, Australia and the United States.

“To ensure we have sufficient international capacity in the medium to long term, the Government is making a $15 million contribution available, and would commit to an anchor tenancy on a new cable for research and education purposes,” Ms Adams says.

The cable would need to meet the requirements of the research, education and innovation communities, as well as normal commercial traffic.

“In order to take part in global research projects, our research and education communities need dedicated capacity that can handle huge data volumes, and provide high levels of reliability.

“International, collaborative projects are characterised by intermittent, high-throughput, multi-terabit data flows that may last for days.

“Building a new cable will further increase the resilience of New Zealand’s international telecommunications links and also introduce more competition on the route, as well as providing additional capacity.”

The existing Southern Cross loop is expected to continue to meet New Zealand’s requirements until at least 2020.