Pacific Fibre and TE SubCom Complete Permitting Study for Trans-Pacific Cable

Pacific Fibre and TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology, announced the completion of their Californian and Australian landings Desk Top Study (DTS) and Californian permitting study for the 12,950km two-cable Pacific Fibre undersea cable system that will link Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

The permitting study, conducted by TE SubCom, identified all necessary permits needed along the route for the Californian landing as well as appropriate agencies, timetables and dependencies required for approvals. During the study, TE SubCom’s permitting experts met with permitting authorities and affected fisheries to introduce the project, gain preliminary approvals and obtain input on the route. With initial approvals attained, the project is now set to move forward with the marine route study.

“Conducting this DTS and the Californian permitting study process signifies forward growth for us, and we’re excited to have reached their conclusion,” said Mark Rushworth, CEO, Pacific Fibre. “With all systems go, we’re ready to begin the next phase of the project and move one step closer to its completion.”

“In our experience, early review and support from Californian fisheries is vital to a successful project implementation,” said David Coughlan, CEO, TE SubCom. “The completion of these studies helps to mitigate permitting risks while allowing the project to stay on course for a timely installation.”

Scheduled to be finalized in 2014, the Pacific Fibre system will meet the increasing demand for international bandwidth in Australia and New Zealand. Upon the project’s completion, the system will be the highest-capacity-per-fiber-pair system longer than 10,000km, boasting a significantly higher cross sectional capacity than any other trans-Pacific cable.

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Subsea World News Staff , February 29, 2012;  Image: Pacific Fibre