TPG (ASX: TPM) is intending to acquire fibre capacity on the Australia-US segment of the Hawaiki submarine cable system.
The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but TPG expects to incur capital expenditure of between $US10 million and $US20 million for the next three financial years, commencing this financial year.
The 14,000 km cable system will link Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii to the US west coast and is scheduled for completion in late 2015.
Under the multi-million dollar deal, TPG will acquire fibre capacity from Sydney to the US which will initially provide up to 3Tbps capacity using 100Gbps wavelength technology, together with the ability to upgrade to 400Gbps and other future technologies.
TPG will also acquire capacity on the Hawaiki trans-Tasman segment from Sydney to Whangarei in Northland, New Zealand.
In a statement, TPG executive chairman, David Teoh, said with the continued growth in TPG’s consumer broadband, corporate and wholesale businesses, international connectivity was an important component of its widespread telecommunications infrastructure.
“Hawaiki has a team with considerable experience in fibre cable systems and this project represents an opportunity to give us a new international link direct to the US, complementing existing international links, which include TPG’s own Sydney to Guam undersea cable system,” he said.
