New Zealand is well served for international connectivity capacity, with the Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN), Tasman Global Access (TGA) cable, and the Hawaiki cable connecting New Zealand to the rest of the world.
The Southern Cross Cable Network, in operation since 2001, includes 30,500km of fibre optic cables (three fibre pairs) and 500 optical repeaters along its route. Its capacity has undergone several major upgrades since launch and now is estimated to be about 22Tbps.
Another key piece of international connectivity infrastructure, the TGA cable, runs from Raglan to Sydney and began service in March 2017. TGA delivers more international bandwidth and capacity for New Zealand, while serving as a digital link to fast-growing Asian economic markets. The cable is comprised of two fibre pairs running over 2,300km with 20 optical repeaters used to amplify the signals along the length of the cable. TGA has a total design capacity of 20Tbps.
The Hawaiki cable launched in July 2018, runs 15,000km across the Pacific linking New Zealand to Australia and the United States. There are, or soon will be, spurs to New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga and American Samoa. The new cable has a design capacity of 43Tbps and provides greater security, by adding a fourth international fibre connection to New Zealand’s international connectivity.
Southern Cross is in the process of laying a new cable known as Southern Cross NEXT which will add further capacity, diversity and resiliency to New Zealand’s connectivity when completed in 2020. Designed for 60Tbps capacity, the cable will connect New Zealand, Australia, USA as well as a number of the Pacific Islands.
