Pacific Fibre & TE Subcom - Trans-Pacific Subsea Cable

Pacific Fibre And TE Subcom Complete Permitting Study For Trans-Pacific Subsea Cable System

Marine Route Survey Begins for Record-Breaking 12,950km System

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND and MORRISTOWN, NJ, USA – February 29, 2012 – Pacific Fibre and TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology,today announced the completion of their Californian and Australian landings Desk Top Study (DTS) and Californian permitting study for the 12,950km two-cablePacific 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.

“Conductingthis 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.

About Pacific Fibre
Pacific Fibre was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand. The Pacific Fibre shareholders include a number of successful entrepreneurs with proven track records, including Sam Morgan, Rod Drury, Sir Stephen Tindall, David Kirk MBE, and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel.

The Pacific Fibre cable will be one of the longest and most technically advanced cable systems when it goes live in 2014. It will link Los Angeles directly to Auckland, New Zealand and then continue to Sydney, Australia via a trans-Tasman link and will offer the fastest route from Australia and New Zealand to the United States. With an initial design speed of 10.2Tbps using 40Gbps technology, it will have the largest forecast capacity of any cable in the region. The design also supports upgradeabilityto 100Gbps technology, and there is potential to upgrade beyond this in the future as technology develops. Pacific Fibre will operate a POP to POP policy allowing customers to connect at conventional peering points, with customer friendly interfaces.
For more information visit www.pacificfibre.net.

About TE SubCom
TE SubCom (SubCom), a TE Connectivity Ltd. company, is an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology and marine services and a leading global supplier for today’s undersea communications requirements. Drawing on its heritage of technical innovation and industry recognized performance, SubCom delivers the most reliable, high quality solutions to organizations with undersea communications needs vital to their core mission. The company designs, manufactures and installs systems around the world, and has deployed more than 490,000km of subsea communication cable—or enough to circle the earth more than 12 times at the equator SubCom’s global presence, backed by industry leading research and development laboratories, manufacturing facilities, installation and maintenance ships,depots, and management team work together to implement integrated solutions and network upgrades, with unsurpassed reliability, that support the needs of telecommunications, internet providers, offshore and science customers worldwide.

For more information visit www.SubCom.com.

About TE Connectivity
TE Connectivity is a global, $14 billion company that designs and manufactures approximately 500,000 products that connect and protect the flow of power and data inside the products that touch every aspect of our lives. Our nearly 100,000 employees partner with customers in virtually every industry—from consumer electronics, energy and healthcare, to automotive, aerospace and communication networks—enabling smarter, faster, bettertechnologies to connect products to possibilities. More information on TE Connectivity can be found at http://www.te.com.

ENDS

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