Supplier for Trans-Pacific Subsea Cable System Selected

Auckland, New Zealand and Morristown, NJ, USA
July 18, 2011

Pacific Fibre and TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company (NYSE: TEL) and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology, today announced the signing of a supply contract for the Pacific Fibre undersea cable system. The exceptionally long system will stretch 12,750km and boast a significantly higher cross sectional capacity than anyother trans-Pacific cable.

Intended to meet the increasing demand for international bandwidth in Australia and New Zealand, which has been growing at a rate of 55 percent per year, the Pacific Fibre system is planned for completion in 2014. The two-cable system will link Australia and New Zealand via a trans-Tasman cable, while connecting New Zealand to the United States via a trans-Pacific cable. The cable landing points will be in Sydney, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Los Angeles, California in the United States.

“Demand for international capacity in Australia and New Zealand is sharply increasing and is on track to continue growing for years to come,” said Mark Rushworth, CEO, Pacific Fibre. Mr. Rushworth continued, “The Pacific Fibre cable will not only provide unsurpassed high speed international connectivity to satisfy the growth in broadband demand, but it will also help Australia and New Zealand realize the potential of both countries’ multi-billion dollar broadband initiatives.”

Mike Constable, Director of Business Development, who led the vendor selection and negotiations added, “We look forward to working with TE SubCom, and are confident that the company’s leading 40G and 100G technology, coupled with its extensive experience and marine capabilities will enable us to successfullyimplement and deliver this landmark project by the scheduled launch in the first quarter of 2014.”

Upon completion, the Pacific Fibre system will be the highest-capacity-per-fiber-pair system ever built. The cables will each have two fiber pairs, with an ultimate cable design capacity of 12.8 Tbps.

“We are pleased to join forces with Pacific Fibre to construct the longest trans-Pacific system and look forward to seeing the significant benefits that Pacific Fibre’s cable will bring to the region,” said David Coughlan, President of TE SubCom. “The system will be built with our advanced technology and will enable Pacific Fibre to deliver much-needed international connectivity between Australia, New Zealand and the United States in the immediate future and to continually support the region’s ever-growing international demand.”

About Pacific Fibre
Pacific Fibre was founded in 2010 and will deliver the longest and most technically advanced undersea cable systems linking Australia, New Zealand and USA. Pacific Fibre is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand. The Pacific Fibre shareholders include a number of successful entrepreneurs with proven trackrecords, including Sam Morgan, Rod Drury, Sir Stephen Tindall, David Kirk MBE, and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel.

For more information visit www.pacificfibre.net.

ENDS

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